Challenging impossibility spread by Luis Ventura

MSc Building and Urban Design in Development Cambodia Fieldtrip 2016 - Final Report

Challenging Impossibility A design research project to explore alternative approaches to citywide upgrading, starting from the settlements of the urban poor in Phnom Penh

PROLOGUE As a young married couple, Chum Mum and her husband Ben Ly had a good life. They lived in Prey Veng Province, in a house made of wood and zinc, built together on land gifted by Mary’s mother who lived nearby in the house the family had been raised in. The house and land were large and Chum Mum and Ben Ly kept two pigs and ten fowl which they used to feed themselves and make a small profit. They had space to grow rice and soon, they were able to have a daughter, Chun Ly The year was 1995 and as Chun Ly approached the age of four, the little family’s luck was to turn. Chun Mum’s health began to get worse. With no money for healthcare and no support available from the state, Ben Ly was forced to sell their cows to pay for Chun Mum’s healthcare. The family’s income diminished and they began to worry. As months passed and Chum Mum’s health continued to decline, the difficult decision was made to sell the house and move to Phnom Penh where Ben Ly could find work as a factory worker.

Chun Mum and Ben Ly packed up their lives and travelled to the city, arriving with nothing but a bag of clothes in March 1996. This was a temporary solution, Pongro Senchey would be home for a short while only whist they got back on their feet. They couldn’t afford anywhere else that was close enough for Ben Ly to get to work. Arriving in Pongro Senchey was tough and straight away Chun Mum wanted to return to the province she had grown up in. Growing up, she lived in her mother’s house, a good house made of palm and wood. She had shared this house with her five sisters and three brothers and the house was made of two buildings sideby-side, so the family had space to keep buffalo and for the children to play.

Chum Mum in her house in Pongro Senchey

Now, faced with the difference of her current situation she felt embarrassed and homesick. Chun Mum and Ben Ly arrived in Pongro Senchey with four other families. They quickly set about constructing dwellings and as the poorest of the families, Chun Mum and Ben Ly built a house using what materials they could find. After a neighbour felled a tree a gift of wood provided the structure and the walls were

Chum Mum’s house

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Chum Mum’s house floor plan

Chum Mum’s house side section

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made from palm leaves. The family had their first home in Pongro Senchey.

day the family used to live and save a small amount.

At this time, the community lived alongside the canal but as more people arrived and the community grew, the five families began to plan. As a group they decided to create a street, ordering their houses into a row to make access easier by leaving space for a road. For Chum Mum this meant moving her house back by 3m over the canal and with no money for new materials, this simply meant piece by piece.

In 2012, their savings were enough to make some small improvements to their home and like their marital home in the provinces, their house today is made of wood and zinc. The one room is divided into two sleeping areas, one for Chum Mum and Ben Ly and one for Chun Ly, her husband Pich and their daughter Por who is one. Sick of the clutter, they built a small room in the corner of the room in which to keep clothes and other belongings.

The canal was fast drying up as development in the district diverted the water flow upstream but flooding was still a problem when the rainy season came. The family was diligent in their saving and after six years, they had enough money to raise the one roomed house up on stilts, 1.5m above the ground. As well as protection from the rains this gave them extra space below to keep chickens and rest in the heat of the day. Chum Mum used the extra space to cook pies, which she sold in the community. Selling each one for 100 Riels, she could make up to 5,000 Riels per day which, along with Ben Ly’s government worker salary of 3,000 Riels per

On the walls there hangs photographs, of Chum Mum as a young woman, of Chun Ly and Pich on their wedding day, of Por as a small baby and of Chum Mum’s sister who now owns their mothers house in which they grew up in. Two shrines, one for their ancestors and one for the Buddha sit on small shelves at head height. Old age and a log career as a construction worker have ruined Ben Ly’s knees and he can no longer walk freely. The shade below the house provides a valuable space for him to rest in the day and at night he is helped up the small ladder to the main room to sleep beside Chum Mum. He needs regular medicine to

ease the main, a government scheme to help low-income families entitles him to about half of what he needs but covering the rest takes a significant proportion of the family’s income. The family cook at the back of the house, on private land borrowed from an owner from outside the community. This land is now a busy construction site, full of workers filling the land in preparation for a new factory This work is making the flooding during the rainy season worse as the water is channelled into the canal upon which this community had made their home. Pich and Por both have jobs at nearby factories from which they earn $160 /month each. The proximity of the factories to their home means that they can work and care for Jane, sharing the childcare with Mary. The garment workers are unionised and have fought hard for a fair wage. Three years ago, Por’s salary was just $70 and the pay rise (due partly to the work of the union and partly to her loyalty) has already made living easier for the family who spend around 10,000 Riels p/day on food.

space for her daughter and her family. She would like a living room and two bedrooms. Chum Mum likes the wooden structure, she would keep it if she could but knows concrete is better, and cheaper for the type of house she wants. The family likes living in Pongro Senchey and care about the community. In 2015, their neighbours voted Chum Mum on to the committee of the savings group and she is an active member in deciding the future development of the community. Chum Mum’s house is built on state-public land and she lives everyday with the possibility of eviction. Though she has little in the way of possessions and her house is basic in comparison to her neighbours she does not want to leave, “this is my home” she says simply.

Chum Mum Pongro Senchet Community member We start with a story to mirror the design process that we have ourselves embarked on in Phnom Penh. As we’ve learned the stories of those who have hosted us, our

Chum Mum has big plans for the future. She plans to build her house up to provide more

understanding has evolved in unforeseen ways. We hope you, the reader have a similar experience.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report would have been impossible without the hard work of a brilliant group of local Cambodian students. The skills and approach we learned from Ran Chenda, You Sokseang, Net Sovanphana, Sovann Rathanak Pahna, Mora Tata, Phoeun Phanith, Sor Vannet and Lim Keapor has greatly improved the quality of our research, as well as their valiant and tireless translation skills. We would like to thank the Pongro Senchey community for being so welcoming, patient and generous, for sharing their lives, stories, food and dancing with us. We would like to thank CDF, CAN-Cam, and ACHR, specially Seng and Maurice for their expert advice. Our gratefulness also goes to the representatives of the Cambodian authority who gave us their time. Last but not the least a big thank you to all our lecturers Giorgio Talocci, Catalina Ortiz, Giovanna Astolfo, and Camillo Boano, for their guidance and support throughout these months; and finally, to all the BUDDies for making this trip an amazing experience.

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ACRONYMS ACCA -Asian Coalition for Community Action ACHR – Asian Coalition for Housing Rights ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations CAN – Community Architects Network CAN-Cam – Community Architects Network Cambodia CDF – Community Development Foundation CSNC – Community Saving Networks of Cambodia GIZ - German Corporation for International Cooperation MLMUPC – Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction NGO – Non-Governmental Organisation SDI-Slum Dwellers International STT -Sahmakum Teang Tnaut SUPF- Solidarity for the Urban Poor Federation UN – United Nations UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority on Cambodia UPDF – Urban Poor Development Foundation WB- World Bank WTO -World Trade Organization

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GLOSSARY ACCA project: A three-year program which has set out to transform development options for Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban poor by supporting a process of community-led change Community: Citizens of Cambodia. People working together and sharing a common goal. Drivers of transformation: Are the forces of change that give form to Phnom Penh. In the report these forces are described as: Political transformation and creation of state; Market forces, globalisation and privatisation; and Community mobilisation and politicisation. Housing stories: Are interviews conducted by the team to collect the information from different people living in Pongro Senchey. Lenses of analysis: These are the characteristics that we found useful to describe the physicality of Pongro Senchey and the other sites. These lenses are: Housing, Land, Infrastructure, Environment, Livelihood and Community.

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LMAP: Land Management and Administration Project, including investments to develop land related policy, legal and regulatory instruments, capacity building, land conflict resolution mechanisms and land titling and registration. Main city site: Pongro Senchey. A settlement in the Khan Pou Sen Chey. Other sites: Are the other site of analysis with similar characteristics in which Heam Cheat, Steng Kombot, Steng Meanchey, Smor San and Prek Takong. Palimpsest: Is a description of the way people experience the city, that is, as a layering of present experiences over the built environment and the stories represented by the citywide as a whole.

Squatter settlement: a group of dwellings illegally occupying private or public lands Strategy: Is a developed proposal of the scenario in a citywide level. Upgrading: The improvement of living conditions, focussed on but not exclusive to the built environment Informality: Processes and systems existing outside of the current doctrine of power Urban poor settlement: a group of low income families with some form of recognized occupancy.

Relocation: A community mapping exercise to map the footprint of the community - their lives and livelihoods rather than just their homes. Scenario: Is the site level model that help us to test a proposal for a design research question.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Cambodian Context This report documents a three-month design research project carried out by MSc students of Building and Urban Design in Development (BUDD) at University College London’s Development Planning Unit (DPU). It’s focus is the citywide process of transformation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and how this relates to the settlements of the urban poor. Research was carried out in London and Phnom Penh, in collaboration with local architecture students and partner NGOs. It builds on the work of past BUDD field trips and a longstanding partnership between the DPU and the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) and the Community Development Foundation (CDF). Focussing on participatory practice, students spent five days embedded within the community of Pongro Senchey, an informal settlement of 151 houses on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. They conducted in-depth interviews to create ‘housing stories’ to understand how policy grounds within informal communities. They

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also ran a series of workshops to explore future scenarios with community members. The analysis explores the social, spatial, economic, environmental and political conditions in which urban transformation and the creation and upgrading of settlements for the urban poor is happening. A selected timeline and analysis outlines the key moments of Cambodia’s history that have shaped Phnom Penh and an actor map details the people or organisations involved. Understanding Phnom Penh The report uses as its ‘framework for analysis’ a series of three drivers of urban transformation; Political transformation and the creation of state, market forces, globalisation and privatisation and community mobilisation and politicisation. Phnom Penh Today studies the context of the city through these drivers finding a city shaped by capital, where land and finance are used as tools of political oppression and a policy of relocation is being applied with a heavy hand. Through examining the points at which these shifting drivers intersect, the framework finds Challenging Impossibility

points of mutual gain on which to develop strategies for citywide upgrading. Analysing Transformation The community of Pongro Senchey forms the main focus of analysis and in Site Analysis, this and other communities are examined through six lenses; housing, infrastructure, community, environment, livelihood and land. The community sits within Phnom Penh’s industrial zone and development is advancing rapidly on either side as new factories are built. The current development plan shows a road where the community sits today. In Pongro Senchey the students found: This is an intimate and organised community with a functioning savings network, a democratic leadership, effective partnerships and three schools. This low income community is dependent on its on its location due to the proximity to jobs and business opportunities. The community is upgrading itself quickly and effectively regardless of a lack of land tenure. The community is working independently to protect themselves from flood risk. The surrounding area is developing very quickly as Phnom Penh’s industry area booms.

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The development increases land price and puts pressure on the community. People from the community can get everything they need from within 1000m radius of Pongro Senchey. This makes living below the poverty line bearable. In spite of a lack of infrastructure and future uncertainty, the people of Pongro Senchey do not want to relocate Through cross analysis of five other sites, the analysis identifies Pongro Senchey as being more organised, less focussed on day-to-day problems such as waste and more concerned with the medium-long term future of their settlement. The report identifies a number of themes which, if left unchecked could lead to a deterioration in conditions for urban poor settlements. The process of incrementality, the rise in un or underemployment, the exclusion from the decision making process, the absence of private enterprise from solutions and the overdependence on NGO’s create a worrisome trajectory which the report hopes to influence. As grounds to a solution, the report suggests that creating a networked group of alternative

power bases, improving the resilience of funding mechanisms for improving life in informal settlements and working to include the urban poor in the grand narrative of Phnom Penh’s development could alter this trajectory. Interpreting our Analysis Urban Design Research draws the findings into an approach on which to develop citywide upgrading strategies for the urban poor. The Cambodian context is uniquely complex, corrupt and confusing. Informal settlements need approaches that fit this system, working with it when they can and against or despite it when they need to. To do this, power and finance bases need decentralising and the strategies presented work to diversify and create new bases for power and finance, include the urban poor in the grand narrative of the city and to create tools for accountability.

enterprise in upgrading, an apprenticeship scheme to begin to close the gap between the economic ‘vision for Phnom Penh’ and the skills of the workforce and a new design-led model for capturing and negotiation land use value in the relocation process. Conclusions In conclusion, the report finds that onsite upgrading is possible. However, the inherent and complementary problems of corruption and a lack of accountability create a worrying picture. Good policy exists in theory but is nonexistent in practice. Analysis of informal communities shows that alternative solutions exist all around – within the system, outside it and despite it. Exploring this approach could lead to a more just mode of development for the urban poor in Phnom Penh.

Alternative Futures Five strategies explore how developers can work from within the reality of ‘informality’, create tools for accountable upgrading, create new spaces for negotiation and partnerships, enable self-sufficiency and challenge entrenched views. The strategies include a new collaborative funding model to include private

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OUR TEAM xiv

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Lucy Warin Bristol UK

Hetsvi Kotak Nairobi Kenya

Edwar Hanna Damascus Syria

Ritu Kataria New Delhi India

Dee Wang Chengdu China

Cui Lei Hohhot China

Felipe H.Ventura Tabasco Mexico

Valeria Vergara Granda Quito Ecuador

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Methodology

1 2

1. THE CAMBODIAN CONTEXT

2. UNDERSTANDING PHNOM PENH

2.1 Transformation 2.2 Research Questions 2.3 Drivers of Transformation

3. ANALYSING TRANSFORMATION

3.1 Main Site of Analysis 3.2 Sites of Analysis

4. INTERPRETING OUR ANALYSIS

4.1 Scenarios 4.2 Scaling-up 4.3 Vision and Principles

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5. ALTERNATIVE FUTURES

6. CONCLUSIONS

7. REFERENCES

8. APPENDIX

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INTRODUCTION On Thursday the 28th of April 2016, we (the eight authors of this report) stepped onto the tarmac of Phnom Penh airport in 36 degree heat. We’d been travelling for 26 hours and were hot, tired and excited. We were in Phnom Penh to study the process of urban transformation and its impact on the settlements of the urban poor. This report is the outcome of a three-month period of design research on citywide upgrading and transformation in Cambodia, for which this field trip was the middle of three phases. The report has been created by students of the MSc Building and Urban Design in Development (BUDD) at University College London (UCL)’s Development Planning Unit (DPU) with the help of students from the National Technical Training Institute (NTTI), Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) and Institute of Technology Cambodia (ITC), members of the Pongro Senchey community and other partners from the Community Development Foundation (CDF), GFH, the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), Community Architects Network Cambodia (CAN-CAM) and UN-HABITAT. The following pages document a design

process which stretches from London to Cambodia and back again, taking in the projects three interlinking and reflexive phases of preliminary research and design exploration, design research, mapping and data collection in the field and further development and reflection post field-trip. Analysis, reflection and strategy development has been woven through each stage. We used design as a research tool, developing prototype pro-poor strategies to understand what positive transformation of the city might look like.

Senchey in which we spent five days. We use existing theories of urban transformation and development to understand the reality of the Cambodian context.

The workshop builds on the existing work of the partnerships as well as two previous trips by BUDD students to Cambodia. We also add to the mix ourselves as practitioners, of our backgrounds in architecture, social science, business management, urban planning and sustainability communications along with our lives lived in Tabasco, Damascus, Dubai, Delhi, Quito, Chengdu, Hukhot, Bristol and London.

Our report is titled “Challenging ‘Impossibility’” to reflect the problematic we found of entrenched and opposing views between the communities and those making decisions as to their future. Our report attempts to develop a different understanding of the future which includes the urban poor.

We go on to outline a set of five city-wide strategies for what we see as positive upgrading, based on a set of design principles synthesised from our research and analysis. These are highly contextualised, based on the political and socio-spatial reality of Phnom Penh and Cambodia.

This report contains a background to the forces that are influencing the transformation of Phnom Penh. It shows our analysis of the these forces, on a city-wide scale and also through the lens of the six communities we visited and studied, most prominently the community of Pongro

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METHODOLOGY RESEARCH PROPOSAL

LONDON

REFLECTION

Pre-field trip In London, after a process of academic and design research we developed a site-specific definition of transition and transformation, a prototype for our framework for analysis and a set of guidelines to shape our research in the field. We attended lectures, mapped the city and discussed a plan of action.

SITES OF ANALYSIS

SCALING UP

PHNOM PENH ANALYSIS

CAMBODIA Fig 1. Methodological process

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Our research process has three phases, starting in London, travelling to Cambodia and returning to London. Mapping, design and analysis runs through each phase, interlinking and building upon them.

RE-SPATIALIZING

In London we had identified six lenses, through which we could analyse the development of Pongro Senchey and how they were living and working within the transformation of Phnom Penh. These lenses were housing, infrastructure, livelihood, community, land and environment. We adopted the method of prototyping, working to create a ‘straw-man’ for the group to work around and constantly questioning, critiquing and developing.

In Cambodia During the fieldtrip, we spent five days in Pongro Senchey working together with local students and representatives from CAN-CAM and CDF. A group of landscape architects from the University of Washington was already working in the site, focussing on the upgrading of the road. Conscious of annoying residents by repeating the same questions or exercises, we chose to build on their research by exploring different scales. The Washington work had focussed on the community, we therefore decided to work on the micro-scale - at individual housing level, and at the neighbourhood scale to explore Pongro Senchey’s relationship with its surroundings. We held an initial workshop to introduce ourselves and our work to the community. We conducted a simple icebreaking activity and some basic community mapping to determine how they see their community within its surroundings. The aim of the workshop was to manage expectations as to our work. We created a series of ‘Housing Stories’ which tell the stories of people through their history of housing and their current dwelling. This gives a rich picture of the impact of policy and the

cross analysis gives a new way of analysing how policy hits the ground.

by encouraging the community to see past what they perceived as ‘impossible’.

Based on a mapping of typologies we selected six houses we felt represented a stratified sample - taking into account typologies, age of house, income of inhabitants and position in the community. The Cambodian university students, took the lead in the personal interviews, meetings with community members and local authorities, allowing the conversation to flow easily without immediate translation.

In a second workshop, planned at a time when we could get a broad range of participants we presented these to the community, probed with follow up questions and collected their feedback. This workshop was mainly in Khmer, run by our Cambodian colleagues with supervision from us. The following day we ran a third workshop with us and the students to capture and analyse the findings. These were turned into a set of recommendations tailored to the local authority, to present with the community provoke a fresh conversation on onsite upgrading.

At the neighbourhood scale we analysed aerial images, interviewed people from surrounding communities and worked with Porong Senchey community members to map their common journeys, following them as they went about their daily tasks. Through our time in the community we were able to translate what we had heard into a set of three scenarios, provocations for future development that we wanted to workshop with the community. It was clear that the community favoured on-site upgrading whilst the local authority favoured relocation and little space for compromise was perceived by either side. The scenarios challenged these entrenched views

In addition to our work in Pongro Senchey we visited other informal settlements in the city, met with community leaders and local experts and mapped our perceptions of transformation. In the second stage of the field trip we worked with colleagues from Cambodia and the DPU to translate our learnings into a set of citywide upgrading strategies. This work formed the base of our strategy development - we then reexamined them within a more specific relationship to Pongro Senchey.

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Contextualising Cambodia

PHASE 1 Research question Definition of transformation Plan of action Prototype strategies Visit to the communities Data collection Photography & film Mapping Storytelling Drawing Meeting the local authority Workshop 1 Site analysis

PHASE 3 Site strategies Workshop 2 design research question Presentation local authority

PHASE 4 Workshoping Cross site analysis of the communities Citywide scale Proposal of citywide strategies Redefinition of transformation Presenting to national authorities

REFLECTIVE PROCESS

FLOW

PHASE 2

WORK

Post field trip The post field trip phase was spent analyzing the findings in order to develop and create new strategies for transformation that involve just socio spatial transitions. We aimed to work in a cyclical method where Cambodia was then investigated through a citywide lense, transformation was redefined and respatialization was considered as part of the scaling up process.

PHASE 5 Analisys of data Redrawing Redesign of strategies Monitoring and evalutation Presentation Final report Fig 2. Phases of Research

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Fig 3. Steung Meanchey Community,

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1. THE CAMBODIAN CONTEXT The historical context of urban design in Cambodia

“As months passed and Chum Mum’s health continued to decline, the difficult decision was made to sell the house and move to Phnom Penh where Ben Ly could find work as a factory worker. 6

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”

Contextualising Cambodia

The end of the French colonial power in 1953 led Cambodia to ‘post-independence urbanism –‘a golden age’ where “tradition and authenticity” were fundamental to its urban fabric. In stark contrast during the Khmer Rouge era cities were emptied to encourage agriculture based economy, “the uneducated peasant would become the idealized subject of a self-sufficient utopia.” (Nam, 2011). Following the ‘liberation’ by Vietnamese troops in 1979 and the international peace agreement of 1991, the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) took control of the country. This generated a wave of democratization in the country in order to align their political institutions to the western model. (Hughes, 2003) Cambodia was ‘restarting’ in the 1990’s after years of war, occupation and dislocation. An influx of returning refugees along with and rural-urban migration in search of work led to reoccupation of the cities on a first come first serve basis, leading to the formation of various informal settlements. (UN, 2003). The number of informal settlements has grown rapidly as the capital attracts low income workers to its factories, markets and construction sites.

between 1990 and 1996 for the purpose of beautification and real estate development. There was rarely any compensation or relocation options (Durand-Lasserve, 2007). This mass mobilization and relocation of people from the city centre to the underdeveloped suburbs of the city caused huge uproar in the international sector.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION OF PHNOM PENH Limits of Phnom Penh 1920 Limits of Phnom Penh 1950 Limits of Phnom Penh 1970 Limits of Phnom Penh 1990

The recent development of the city has not just impacted the urban poor, but has also drastically altered the physical environment. Phnom Penh once referred to as ‘the city of water’ owing to the elaborate networks of canals and lakes has fallen victim to the ambitious plans for the future development of real estate in the city which entails landfilling of these water bodies.

A series of forced evictions were carried out Fig 4. Administrative division of Phnom Penh

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Contextualising Cambodia

1993

1975

1978

Vietnam War Vietnam ends. invades Start of the Cambodia Khmer Rouge. Private ownership abolished

1979

1983

End of Khmer Rouge. Vietnamese take Phnom Penh

Census: ¼ of the population died in the war.

1989 Vietnam leaves Cambodia. Cambodia enters world market. End of socialism. De-collectivisation of agricultural land.

1991

1994

1992

Agreements for political settlement of Cambodian conflicts. UN operated, Peace Agreement is signed in Paris

UN sets up the Association of Cambodian Local Economic Development

1999 UNTAC aimed to restore peace and civil governance

Cambodia Investment Law

Illegal is redefined to temporary, MLMUPC established

Cambodia reintegrates the global capitalist economy in the late 1980’s.

Asian Development Bank began building and improving transport and telecom links between China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

2012

2014

2000 Millennium development goals

Land Law

National Housing Policy

Circular 3 was implemented

City Development Strategy

Elections: Coalition government

1996 Sub Decree: granting of ownership rights over houses: from state property to private.

2010

2001

Relocation projects were initiated for 600 families in Phnom Penh and ACHR set mission task for urban poor communities

Interior ministry report suggests 19 of 29 countries had banks front for money laundering

1995 25% of Phnom Penh’s population has access to piped water supply.

SUPF formed in 1995 by community leaders of urban sector group

2003

1998 Signing of lease on railway land . Tuol Svey Prey-eviction happens. Provisional Land Disputes Commission

1997 City wide low income survey done

2002 UPDF formed, Citywide low income ACHR survey community agreement on UPDF and Phnom Penh municipality

3 foreign companies were granted 30, 000 hectares of forest land

Land Sharing Pilot projects started - Borei Keila, Dey Krahom, Railways. Sub Decree on Social Land Concession. Sub Decree for Economic Land Concession takes place. Over 943.069 ha of rural land granted to private companies. Negotiations start on Borei Keila regarding evictions, 3 railways lease signed with developer

Biggest satellite cities (2500 acres) got permission from the kingdom for development Relocation was initiated due to flooding

Recorded number of dwellers in urban poor settlements increased by over 200,000 Phase 1 of LMAP began

Wave of forced evictions

2011 Law of Expropriation was enforced

$1.2 Billion was initiated for construction projects of satellite cities

Boeung Kak lease signed with Shukaku Inc. Lake infill happened and railway residents got dispersed

2004 City wide low income survey done 569 Urban poor settlements World bank withdraws for LMAP.

2009

2007

2005

Cambodia Local urban becomes NGO STT member of launched WTO

2012 Last eviction in Phnom Penh $2.1 Billion was initiated for construction projects for satellite cities

2008 LMAP was extended

ACCA Project implemented in Cambodia

Urban Initiative by STT

Fig 5. Timeline of Cambodias’s transformation

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Contextualising Cambodia

The actors involved in shaping the settlements of the urban poor in Phnom Penh The diagram opposite shows the different actors involved in the urban transformation of Phnom Penh. It categorises different bodies on their type and the scale on which they operate.

INTERNATIONAL

World Bank

Canadian Development Agency Government of England GIZ

United Nations

South Korea SinhanBank ASEAN

Shukaku Inc.

7NG Central Government Governmental Institutions

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OCIC

Phanimax

CDF (UPDF)

Camko World City Co.

Universities SUPF

Governmental Institutions: - Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction - Ministry of Commerce - Cadastral Comission - Ministry of Environment - Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts - Ministry of Economy and Finance

STT

CDF (City)

CDF (Local)

LOCAL

Local Government (Khan)

Fig 6. International involvements reflected in the urban

CAN

CSNC

Media

Municipality of Phnom Penh

CITY

Cambodia has a uniquely complex actor map, in particular the line between business and government is not always clear. Whilst this map shows an overview of the actors, we have broken this down into detail on our analysis and strategies in order to specialise and contextualise the relationships.

YLP

ACHR

CAN-Cam

Prime Minister

This diagram has formed an important base for our research, not so much as a final representation but more in how it has morphed as our research has progressed.

Universities

ADB

NATIONAL

As Cambodia transitions, power bases shift through negotiation and conflict and actor relationships are constantly changing.

SDI

Japan Fund AusAid

Media

REGIONAL

It seeks to highlight the relationships between the actors that we have witnessed, in relation to the settlements of the urban poor.

Donors

Canadian Bank

Collaboration

Non-Governmental Organisations

Community

Funding

Third Sector

Government

Saving Groups

Community Leaders

Private Sector

Community members

Fig 7. Actors involved in shaping urban poor settlements in Phnom Penh

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2. UNDERSTANDING PHNOM PENH Reading the tranformation of the city through design research

â&#x20AC;&#x153;He can still feel the pain and horror of the military force destroying houses and evicting people. It was a lost battle after years of advocating for their right to stay and protesting against evictions. 14

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â&#x20AC;?

Understanding Phnom Penh

In this chapter we define transition and transformation in Phnom Penh. Based on the theoretical definition, research questions will be discussed through our framework for analysis which explores three drivers of transformation; the political transformation and the creation of the state; market forces, globalisation and privatisation; and community mobilisation and politicisation - and how they relate to each other.

2.1 DEFINING TRANSFORMATION The construction of our definition of transformation in Phnom Penh in the time of transition is rooted in: prefield research, the data collected in the field, and the posterior reflexion as to the reality of the site. Transition is the inevitable change during a certain period of time, which sets the context of any possible transformation. In other words, it is the opportunity to trigger transformative forces. In the case of Phnom Penh, the process of urban transition has made visible conflicting ideas of state, governance and land. We see that a strong government does not necessarily correlate with strong governance and that the different ideas of nationhood and state-building mean different things, even within the same government. This leads to uncontrollable consequences that significantly affect the built environment. As Agamben defines the“state of exception” in which, even if there is a strong image of the government, the market and informality work where the “juridical stops and an independent unaccountability begins”.

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The struggle towards social justice through transformation processes require both distributional and institutional components. Building on that, transformation is a radical change based on institutional components as political recognition of transformative processes, in order to influence the distributional order (Iris Marion young : 1990). We believe that transformation in the built environment is the manifestation of networks of power redistribution, a physical representation of the intents of those who created it. Since resistance exists whenever there is power, onto Foucault’s conceptualization of resistance we overlay the idea that resistance operates as a part of power, “There is no power without refusal or revolt […]” (Foucault et al, 1997). The transformation of the city therefore expresses this resistance. Transformation processes in Phnom Penh concerns the articulation between social structure and physical structure, and are mainly branched into two parts: ‘Phnom Penh in Transformation’ vs ‘Transformations in Phnom Penh’. The first one is about all factors beyond the city which affect the city dynamics. while the second matters the processes are happening

within the actors’ network and transforming the built environments as a result. Therefore, any potential change in the reality of Phnom Penh has to operate in both levels in parallel. However, the first level is certainly related to the globalisation and the Southeast Asian issues, and changing this context is out of our control. Consequently, the approach should work with these complexities rather than against it creating an approach through systematic strategies. Working on this approach requires tackling multidimensional aspects. It starts from creating synergy between actors, diversifying finance sources, redistributing power dynamics, designing spaces for participation and most importantly setting up policies could achieve the previous aspects moving towards spatial and social justice. However, the struggle to achieve all these ‘institutional transformations’ should not be repeated from the very beginning case by case. Therefore, a room for manoeuvre should be designed to make collective actions in any phase of the process. By this, these ‘micro’ transformations within the city could be scaled up to entrench just transformation at the citywide level.

Our transformative strategies indicate not only an improvement of the system but also try to rectify it. They are challenging the impossibilities which have been created by this system. Not only by correcting particular set of practices or resisting towards wrong practices, but also by re-asking about who is accountable for each one of these practices. The potential for making an alteration and becoming an “other”, of positive transformation, is a process of learning. It depends on the setting of appropriate precedents and the creation of space for people to learn as they do and do as they learn. “Potential is generally defined as something not-yet actual, but that over time and through the principle of development has the power to become” (Boano et al, 2014). We believe that the trajectory of Phnom Penh’s transformation can be influenced by challenging the perceptions of different actors and powers and their relation to each other.

Market forces, Glo

Market forces, Globalization and Privatisation

Political transform

Political transformation and the creation of state.

Community Mobilis

Community Mobilisation and Politicisation.

Environmental Sys

Environmental Systems

Points of negotiati

Points of negotiation and conflict

Mutual benefit for

Mutual benefit for accountable upgrading

Fig 8. Schematic transformation involving the main drivers

Challenging Impossibility

Understanding Phnom Penh

2.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

2.3 FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS

For the definition of our research question we try to disentangle the complexity of the urban reality and start our design research and we develop a series of questions that help us to understand better the objective of our report through the drivers of transformation in Phnom Penh.

From initial exploration of the case whilst based in London, we developed a prototype framework for analysis to guide our research and help us to build a robust understanding of urban transformation in Phnom Penh.

What are the opportunities for mutual benefit to multiple actors across the different drivers of urban transformation?

The framework starts with what we see as the three main drivers of transformation - political transformation and creation of state, market forces, globalisation and privatisation and community mobilisation and politicisation.

SITES

What are the challenges to achieve a feasible socio-spatial justice within the reality of Phnom Penh? How does our understanding and experience of Pongro Senchey provide possible solutions for a citywide upgrading strategy?

The drivers are then mapped alongside each other, studying how they change in order to spot the points at which they overlap, which we see as possible sites of mutual benefit. We argue that strategies that fit to these junctions of mutual gain, where themes intersect and interact are more viable and sustainable. Phnom Penh Community Mobilisation and politicisation

Political transformation and the creation of the state:

Market forces, globalisation and Privatisation

Environmental processes

The framework incorporates how these three intersecting lines impact environmental processes, a significant factor in the context of Phnom Penh and informal settlements, especially in relation to hydraulic systems. We chose

Fig 9. Drivers of transformation in Phnom Penh

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Understanding Phnom Penh

to separate but not remove the environmental processes from the other drivers of transformation as they were both transformed as well as transformative. In this section we outline what we understand by these three drivers of transformation and how they are grounded within the context of Phnom Penh.

Political Transformation and the Creation of the State Cambodia is a country shaped by destruction. The almost total destruction by the Khmer Rouge of the Cambodian state - physically and ideologically- is well documented and much discussed. As well as the physical destruction of the cities, the regime also destroyed the educated class, the social systems and the institutions on which recovery would depend. On a personal level they destroyed families, lives and spirits leading behind them a country on its knees (Nam, 2011). What is less discussed is the context in which the state of Cambodia began recovering. The thirty years that have followed the Vietnam occupation to oust the Khmer Rouge have been filled with conflict, confusion and corruption. International intervention on the scale of the Cambodian case has not been seen elsewhere and the involvement of occupying nations and international organisations and NGO’s has left an indelible mark on the Cambodian creation of state. All of this pertains under the leadership of a man for whom the list of allegations against him for corruption, political violence and electoral

Challenging Impossibility

fraud is extensive and growing. Hun Sen’s legacy to Cambodia is corruption. There is rampant pattern of corruption on every level of the Cambodian economy (Mgbako et al., 2010), from schools to hospitals to every process and corner of government. For 30 years a few powerful men have progressed their own interests, using confusion and obfuscation. This corruption has hamstrung Cambodia’s recovery and the building of a state. And the currency of this corruption? Land. States, throughout history, have had the agency to shape cities (Marcuse, P. and Van Kempen, R., 2002). State ownership of land has led to speculation in which market forces have caused the poor to move and find a home in insecure conditions (ACHR, 2001). Government officials unlawfully grant land titles to private developers for financial returns, resulting in forced eviction of poor communities (Mgbako et al, 2010). Amnesty International find more than 150,000 Cambodians are currently at risk of being forcibly evicted and forced evictions as a result of development projects, land disputes, and land grabbing are now among the most widespread human rights violations in Cambodia. The politics of housing is “the singlemost critical site of a politics of citizenship”

(Appadurai, 72). The government manipulates land price, through pedalling the discourse of scarcity or negotiating with developers. Not only has the government been accused of underselling its land to foreigners but also for disregarding the poor and not implementing the National Housing Policy. Although the Circular 3 has been passed into law, it has been done so without community input, disregarding its commitment to inclusivity. Its implementation remains a myth. Evictions have been justified by the classification of land as ‘state-public’ but there are countless examples where this classification changes seamlessly when it is developers and not the urban poor who require the change. The battle for living space is not only a struggle for a physical space but also a political space—a place in the city, as equal “citizens”. Whilst one might question the motives, there has been progress in regards to rebuilding political and economic structures and the creation of space. There has been a shift from centralised government to a plurality of networks and partnerships. Decentralisation enhances the opportunity of local governments to grow in their responsibilities and work to

Challenging Impossibility

Understanding Phnom Penh

improve infrastructure and reinforce social services for the sake of participating in the cities transformation towards a global economy (Martin et al, 2003). Nevertheless, the Cambodian situation is different. Local governments still rely on ministries and national government to make decisions.

SATELLITES CITIES 1. Garden City 2. Grand Phnom Pen International 3. Camko City 4. Cambodia Chroy Changvar City 5. Boeung kak Lake 6. Diamond Island City 7. ING City

EVICTIONS Evictions Threat of eviction Relocation sites

2 4 3 5

Fig 10. Eviction and relocation sites in Phnom Penh

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Fig 11. Developed and planned satellite cities

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Understanding Phnom Penh

Market Foraces, Globalisation and Privatisation In the last decades, cross-border integration of economic activities and the growing interdependency of economic sectors have created what we understand as globalisation. “Important elements in the evolution of the global system are the expansion of trade, capital flows (particularly direct investments) and a wave of new technologies” (Lo & Marcotullio, 2000; p. 77). Globalization is the main force shaping downtown Phnom Penh today. Politically, increased links with the global economy, and the increased influence of foreign and domestic capital in policy decision-making, have meant that access to political power is increasingly a function of access to sources of wealth (Shatkin, 1998). Hun Sen and his government have a vision for Phnom Penh as a global city and a tourist destination. The reentering of the country into the global market in 1989, at the height of neoliberalism and the Investment Law 1993 were to have huge effects on an emerging nation with a weak state and gaping social inequalities. A huge dissonance was created

Challenging Impossibility

between the image and reality of the city. As Brenner (2013) states, the “reorganizing urban conditions is increasingly seen as a means to transform the broader politicaleconomic structures and spatial formations of early twenty- first- century world capitalism as a whole”. In this light, the recent rehabilitation of the city, the transformation to a free market economy and the desire of development has put urban growth in a vulnerable position, exposed to economic powerful forces intent on shaping the city in their interest. The forms of administration and land tenure are the reflexion of the constant disruption of power relations of the neoliberal market and the real state driven economy. The urban regeneration and the constant growth of the urban areas have moved the public services responsibilities to the private sector (Grimsditch, et al 2009). The physical manifestation of these global flows of capital are high rises, satellite cities, gated communities and business hubs, much promoted, little used (the Vattanac Capital tower remains 70% unoccupied) and have no value to the majority of Phnom Penh’s population.

is now a force field of crisscrossing state regulatory strategies designed to territorialize long-term, large-scale investments in the built environment and to channel flows of raw materials, energy, commodities, labor, and capital across transnational space.” (Brenner, 2013). Today Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s economic center with the three economic pillars of agriculture, industry and tourism. The impressive growth of the economy (10% GDP increase every year) has not been reflected in conditions for the urban poor. While more than half of people are living below poverty line, still a majority of the labor force are employed in the informal market with 70 percent living on less than $3USD a day (ADB, 2001). Whilst some gains have been made, a small shift such as an economic downturn, political instability or a natural disaster could tip many back below the poverty line.

INDUSTRIAL AREAS Growing Industrial areas Special Economic Zone

“This extended landscape of urbanization Fig 12. Industrial areas in Phnom Penh

Challenging Impossibility

Understanding Phnom Penh

Community Mobilisation and Politizisation in Phnom Penh The involvement of citizens in the production of their environment is an overtly political act (Till, 1998). Politics and being politicised is a contestation to the established social structures (Dikeç, 2012), it is a challenge to the fixed social limits, and opening spaces for verifying equality. Political action is a manifestation and medium of freedom, where citizens can create a political domain named ‘space of appearance’ (Dikeç, 2012).

on spaces of common assertion through which everybody can practice their rights beyond formal spaces and practices created by the state. It goes beyond accepting the invitation to participate but to produce own opportunities of involvement and engagement (Miraftab, 2005). Through processes as the ACCA Program, which was established in Cambodia in 2008, urban poor are encouraged to “become the doers and the deliverers of solutions to the huge problems of urban poverty, land and housing [...].” (ACHR, 2010; p. 1).

In a neoliberal urban system, as in Phnom Penh, citizens and mainly residents of informal settlements have reduced rights and power of action. Despite the oppression and with the assistance of different organisations, they have found alternatives to take their development into their hands (Miraftab, 2005). In Cambodia, since 1998, CDF and ACHR has sought to create and promote people-driven urban processes. By putting urban poor residents in the centre, scaling-up projects, “win–win” approaches to housing and land problems as well as projects to reduce poverty through networks, has given communities the agency to be part of their own development (Phnophakdee, et al., 2009). New conceptualisations of citizenship are based

Community is a complex concept based on relationships, in which individuals are part of a larger heterogeneous social network, not only because of identity but of common issues and concerns, socially acquired values and beliefs, and expectations and interests (Hamdi, 2004). In the Cambodian context as in many other developing countries, communities are created when residents undergo common threats. Organised communities could be the middle ground between individuals and the state; they are able to moderate, tolerate, cooperate, dialogue and compromise for the greater good (Belloni, 2001). In the past decades, through programs of CDF and ACHR, mobilised communities have grown and are gaining

Challenging Impossibility

agency to act independently and have power to negotiate with other urban actors advocating for socio-spatial development .

Asian Coalition for Community Action Projects Small ACCA projects CDF proposal

Fig 13. Asian Coalition for Community Action Projects

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3. ANALYSING TRANSFORMATION Our fieldwork in Pongro Senchey and beyond

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The rainy season brings floods to Pongro Senchey and their little house was ill-equipped to deal with them. At the height of the floods, with water reaching up to their shoulders, Chanaa and her husband would place their two small daughters in buckets to float them down the street. 28

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â&#x20AC;?

Analysing Transformation

NG DATA FROM VERSITY OF ASHINGTON

on various open s, this focuses on the t scale, determining n terms of wants and needs.

HOUSING STORIES

Our analysis concentrates on three scales, the individual and the house, the community and the settlement, and the neighbourhood and their relationship to the wider Khan and city.

In depth interviews with individuals, within their own homes, exploring their history through housing and the history (past, present and future) of their current house

Individual Community and house and settlement

SING STORIES

h interviews with ls, within their own xploring their history using and the history esent and future) of current house

TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS

EXISITNG DATA FROM UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

journeys and interactions.

Fig 14. Tools for Analysis

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EXISITNG DATA FROM UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

DATA FROM OTHER SITES

JOURNEY SHADOWING AND ‘EXPERIENCE’ MAPPING

MAPPING AND OBSERVATION WITHIN SITE

Participatory design research exercises to uncover the motivations behind certain views amongst the community.

Based on various open workshops, this focuses on the settlement scale, determining priorities in terms of wants and needs.

Secondary data from colleagues on mapping and analysis of other informal settlements within Phnom Penh.

Mapping the physical and emotional dependency of the community upon its surroundings through individual journeys and interactions.

Sketching, photography, filming and recording of data on the sites physicality.

DATA FROM OTHER SITES

JOURNEY SHADOWING AND ‘EXPERIENCE’ MAPPING

MAPPING AND OBSERVATION WITHIN SITE

Secondary data from colleagues on mapping and analysis of other informal settlements within Phnom Penh.

Mapping the physical and emotional dependency of the community upon its surroundings through individual journeys and interactions.

Sketching, photography, filming and recording of data on the sites physicality.

MAPPING AND OBSERVATION WITHIN SITE

CONVERSATION AND SOCIALISING

CONVERSATION AND SOCIALISING Spending time getting to know the community, eating with them and spending time in the settlement at various hours of the day..

Neighbourhood and city

In Participatory this chapter we research analyse the findings of our design Based on various open exercises to uncover this focuses on the research. We collate the what we haveworkshops, learnt from motivations behind certain settlement scale, determining ourviews time in Pongro Senchey (including the of wants and amongst the community. priorities in terms needs. workshops, housing stories and mapping) with our broader study of the political economy of Phnom Penh. As the main study site, Pongro Senchey is examined in detail through six lenses: housing, land, infrastructure, DATA FROM OTHER environment, livelihood and community. WeJOURNEY SHADOWING SITES AND ‘EXPERIENCE’ also draw findings from five other communities MAPPING Secondary data from studied during the fieldwork to cross-analyse Mapping the physical and colleagues on mapping and emotional dependency of the with the findings from Pongro analysis of other informal Senchey to community upon its settlements within Phnom Penh. highlight similarities and differences. surroundings through individual

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS

Sketching, photography, filming and recording of data on the sites physicality.

CONVERSATION AND SOCIALISING Spending time getting to know the community, eating with them and spending time in the settlement at various hours of the day..

Spending time getting to know the community, eating with them and spending time in the settlement at various hours of the day..

Fig 15. Pongro Senchey lCommunity

Challenging Impossibility

Analysing Transformation

3.1 SITE ANALYSIS Pongro Senchey Pongro Senchey, our primary site of study is a linear settlement, 600m long and 7.5m wide. It was established in 2000 in the South West periphery of Phnom Penh, along the course of a disused canal on state-public land. The site is home to 373 people (163 families) in an area of 4500m2.

Steng Kombot

2000

2005

2010

2016

Heam Cheat

Steng Meanchey

The settlement is in Phnom Penhâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrial 2010 zone, close to a cluster of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s factories 2016 making garments and construction materials. The landscape surrounding the settlement is experiencing a rapid transition from rice paddies, to ground cleared for development, to factory sites. Current development plans show a road where the community is.

Smor San Prek Takong Pongro Senchey

2000

2005

Fig 17. Historical growth of Pongro Senchey and its sorroundings

Fig 16. Pongro Senchey Community location in Phnom Penh (left)

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Analysing Transformation

Housing Stories These are excerpts from our five housing stories from which we develop a better analysis of the livelihood in Pongro Senchey (the full text, pictures and diagrams appear in Appendix 2). When you’re living with uncertainty, a house is just a house Jek Chhun When the family arrived they were squatters in a house made of wood and zinc. Now they are squatters in a house made of concrete and although this house is a testament to the families’ hard work, Jek Chhun holds little emotion to it. “If they relocate us we will get a house with water and electricity.” She remarks, “There will be less disruption from flooding. I would not be sad to leave but I would like to be close to the market.

Fig 18. Jek Chhun house section

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Evading the evictions Keo Vuthy A prominent memory for Keo Vuthy was the moment in 2012 when he (along with many other families) were forcefully evicted from their house in Borei Keila. He can still feel the pain and horror of the military force destroying houses. It was a lost battle after years of advocating for their right to stay and protesting against evictions. He misses living in his old community. Well-off to informal due to a simple string of bad luck Sok Oun Two years ago things were very different. A string of bad luck, the car breaking down, Sok Oun’s mother passing away followed by a number of debts not being repaid, meant that the couple were no longer able to work. As money dried up, they were forced to sell their house and along with their children and Sok Oun’s brother they moved to the city in search of work. Big plans for a small site and a growing family Churu Vanny His current house in the Pongro Senchey community has two floors and one room. He

is still constructing another house next door and plans to upgrade the house he is living in once the construction of his second house is finished. He plans on using both the houses for his new family as it will provide space for his children to play in he says.

House

Person

Themes Housing as a resource for generating income. Relocated to Pongro Senchey from the provinces in search of economic opportunities.

Jek Chhun

Lived elsewhere in Phnom Penh but moved as they could no longer afford where they lived. Forced to sell past houses to pay for basic needs. Having a house close to jobs is a priority.

Sok Oun

Workin the 'in

Creat acc up

Upgrading houses to accommodate growing families. Upgrading incrementally, saving and building as and when they can. Raising the level of their houses to mitigate against floods.

Churu Vanney

Creating negotiation betwee 'in

Occupying based on verbal or other informal contracts. Borrowed money for upgrading.

Fig 19. Churu Vanny house section

Created extra space to generate income through rent.

A house built by herself and paid for with a case of beer Thai Chana Some residents of Pongro Senchey don’t know what they paid for their houses. Incrementally built, developed over a number of years and with no legal status, the cost and value of the dwellings is hard to define. Not for Chanaa. Her house is worth everything. And it’s cost? A case of beer.

Keo

E self-

Upgrading trajectory form palm to zinc and/or bricks to concrete. Spaces that have different uses depending on time of day. Self built and/or designed.

Chanaa

Poor health of a family member leading to loss of housing and a sink into poverty and informality. Leveraging free resources. Place great importance on state recognition.

Chum Murn

Have other family (other than direct) in the community.

Fig 20. Themes from housing stories

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Ch entre

Analysing Transformation

Lens 1: Housing The materials used in the construction of houses are palm leaves, wood, zinc, concrete and bricks. The single storey houses are constructed in the most part of light materials. 68% of houses in the settlement are two floors. The small number of three storey houses are more permanent constructions, made from concrete and bricks. The incremental growth of the settlement is reflected in the housing stock. Houses follow a typical trajectory of palm to zinc to bricks or concrete. Often you see a ground floor that has been built with sturdy materials and a second floor extension of more basic materials. A recent flurry of house upgrading has been caused by a visit from a senior state official, giving the community confidence that they can stay in the medium term future

3 floors

32% 68%

26%

61%

3 floors

13%

28%

68%

2 floors

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2 floors

Light Materials

1floor

28%

68%

Fig 21. Housing Typology Analysis

1 floor

28% 100%

construction Light Materials Permanent Materials L+P Materials

Fig 22. Housing Typology pictures

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Analysing Transformation

Lens 2: Land Aerial photos show slow but steady development of the area surrounding Pongro Senchey from the late 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. The land slowly transforms from rice paddy fields to industry and factories with a boom occurring from 2008. Since then development has been rapid and land price in the surrounding plots is currently around $300 pm2. This same land cost around $50 fifteen years ago. Current development plans show a road where Pongro Senchey currently exists. There are plans to develop the area as Phnom Penhâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrial zone and the road would be used to service the surrounding development. None of the residents of Pongro Senchey own the land they live on but few cite this as one of their main concerns. That does not exclude some transaction for buy and selling pieces of land under informal agreement. They do not seem to draw a natural association between land and security, rather they prioritise their house.

Lens 3: Infrastructure Due to the lack of land tenure, there is no government investment in water or electricity infrastructure to the community. Instead they must rely on private suppliers which doubles the cost and many see as a major issue.

Potentials to become a road due to development activities on both sides

Under Construction

The development of physical infrastructure is a concern most residents share and community mobilisation to date has focussed on material infrastructure. In April of 2016, in collaboration with ACCA and paid for in part by the community savings network the community installed a drainage systems to help with flood risk mitigation.

Under Construction

Drainage Water

The community depends on the road that runs the length of the settlement. Many of the community work as Tuk Tuk drivers and they must bring their vehicles down the street to keep them safe over night. They are currently upgrading the surface of the road through a partnership with the University of Washington. There is one wifi hotspot in the settlement.

Electricity Fig 23. Land analysis of Pongro Senchey

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Fig 24. Infrastructure Analysis in Pongro Senchey

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Analysing Transformation

Lens 4: Environment Some people throw garbage in the plots in front of the site, while other people burn their own garbage at an area inside one development area. This is leading to air and soil pollution. The people in the community use several ways to prevent flooding. The most common measure is to elevate the level of the doors so that water will not directly come into the houses. Recent upgrading has meant that the level of the road is higher than the level of some houses, exacerbating the damage caused by flooding. Some houses have built rudimentary flood defences such as bricking up the bottom of their front door. The layout of the houses and the presence of a 2.5m wall separating the community from the neighbouring wall provides ample shade to the road. This means it can be use by children to play and adults to meet and vend. Lens 5: Livelihood This community is highly dependant on its location due to the proximity to jobs and business opportunities. The site is close to many factories, the reason many moved here in the first place. The proximity allows more

Challenging Impossibility

members of the family to work and to share childcare, cutting down on travel time. People from this community can get everything they need from within 1000m radius of their homes, this makes living below poverty line bearable.

The Community The factoriescommon working place The markets that people usually go House for rent

Waste Disposal Area

Hospital Farm Land

Lens 6: Community This is a small community that is well organised and socially linked. The layout of the street means there is a constant passing of neighbours Flooding problem past each others houses and people regularly cluster outside the houses to talk. There are three schools in the community and many children. When parents work, the children are often looked after by the grandparents and other residents. There is a functioning community savings network, the committee for which acts as de facto community leaders. Most residents Flooding problems seem to have no problem with this and actively participate although two families have protested the investment in the drainage system. Not all families are members of the community savings network.

Fig 25. Environmental Analysis in Pongro Senchey

All the community members and residents of Pong Ro Sen Chey go to the Private Hospital â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eakreach hospitalâ&#x20AC;?. The houses are only for the factory workers. If we want a cheaper price, we will go to the city center. (15-20min by motorbike)

Vacant Land DEWHZEST (American Factory) offer jobs with a salary of 145$-242,8$ per month.

The Military gives the community rice once per two or three months.

The neighborhood used to be on a rice field and then it became the factory. I like the green of the field.

The rooms for factory worker cost 50$-$100 per month.

Waste Disposal Area

Most people in Prey Sor donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often come to Pongro Senchey, because there is no need.

Fig 26. Livelihood Analysis on the neighbourhood scale

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Analysing Transformation

Steng Kombot

Fig 28. Social activity in Smor San Community

Fig 30. Smor San Community

Insights - Smor San contributed to our understanding of the notion of ‘security’. In this context, the tombs are the community’s security, a de facto land title.

Heam Cheat

Steng Meanchey

- Employment is not an isolated factor. A lack of employment, especially amongst you is leading to crime and distance from jobs is causing some residents to relocate semi-permanently to other illegal sites to find work.

Smor San Prek Takong Pongro Senchey

Fig 27. Site location in Phnom Penh

Challenging Impossibility

Smor San The settlement is situated on a burial ground. Some of the tombs are used as beds or other household furniture. The settlement’s population has increased due to migration from a nearby riverbank settlement, in fear of riverbank collapse caused by nearby development. The sites geography causes flooding problems in the lowest areas. There are environmental problems caused by a lack of waste management. There is a high level of youth unemployment.

Fig 29. Tombs in Smor San Community

Challenging Impossibility

Analysing Transformation

Steung Kombot The settlement is situated along a defunct irrigation canal. Houses vary on materiality according to their location in the settlement; the more permanent constructions are facing the main road with commercial activities in the ground floor. Part of the pedestrian road was upgraded by residents but flooding still remains a major issue due to the lack of drainage system. Water and electricity are provided by private suppliers, which makes these services more expensive. A concrete road was built on the settlement to give direct access to National Road No 5.

Prek Takong The settlement of 80 houses is located on public land along a lake with most families (80 %) livelihood depending on the lake. The houses are in poor conditions constructed in wood and zinc on stilts. There is an urgent threat of eviction as the settlement area is proposed for development by one private company. The land filling in the lake, which started this year, has aggravated the problem of flooding in the area. Fig 31. Steung Kombot Settlement

Insights - This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t one community. Different parts of the community are affected in different ways and thus strategies need to be adaptable within communities.

Fig 32. Steung Kombot Settlement view

Fig 34. Prek Takong Settlement view

Fig 35. Housing in Prek Takong Settlement

- The community has no tools for proving their need to be there and very little discourse or negotiation with the authorities.

- The community feels the impact of a lack of water and waste infrastructure without having much potential to influence the cause. - The community has no relationship with the private developers active on either side.

Challenging Impossibility

Insights - Lack of organisation and an identity as a community makes settlements vulnerable to development. However, in the face of eviction, the community s mobilising around the threat.

- Actions by the local authority that are contradictory to the National Housing Policy go unchecked.

Fig 33. Inside Steung Kombot Settlement

Fig 36. Prek Takong Settlement

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Analysing Transformation

Steung Meanchey The settlement of 500 families in 222 households is located along a canal close to the centre of Phnom Penh. Half the settlement is located on state public land and half on private land. Although the settlement is located near the main road, the accessibility is weak due to the broken wooden bridge. There are multiple saving groups in the settlement and the community is highly organized. Currently, the community is negotiating a reblocking proposal with the government; the project was developed with local university students. A water system and the electricity system partly cover the community. Waste management programs are in place but the community still has issues of waste mainly in the rainy season.

Fig 37. Steung Meanchey Settlement

Fig 41. Heam Cheat Settlement located inside an old cinema

Fig 38. Canal in Steung Meanchey Community Fig 40. Water infrastructure Heam Cheat Settlement

Insights - Community organisation and leadership is an effective tool for upgrading. Once there is an established presence of community action, others join in.

Insights - This site demonstrates the fallacy of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rationalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; response. The inertia from the community as to waste removal represents the complexity to what at first seems like a simple problem to solve.

- Reblocking is a solution that can hold benefits for the community and the local authority.

Fig 39. Housing in Steung Meanchey Settlement

Challenging Impossibility

Heam Cheat The settlement of 300 people in 78 families is located inside the Heam Cheat cinema on private property. The space is extremely cramped on the lower floor with families living in almost complete darkness surrounded by rotting garbage and vermin. There is more space on an external mezzanine level and toof space where the residents who have been there longer live. Waste has been accumulating for years and there is no drainage provision. The community recently installed water provision pipes but not all residents have public water, some are connected to other residents as private suppliers. Residents live in poverty, but have jobs in the city due to the central location in Phnom Penh.

Fig 42. Heam Cheat Settlement interior

- The central location is essential. Residents are willing to put up with awful living conditions to remain close to jobs and healthcare.

Challenging Impossibility

4. INTERPRETING OUR ANALYSIS Creating a blueprint for alternative futures

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Churu Vanny plans on living in the Pongro Senchey community long term however he hesitates and says he has no idea about the developments that are taking place right across from him and also does not have any information on the current government policies. 48

Challenging Impossibility

â&#x20AC;?

Interpreting our analysis

We have studied the broad context of Cambodia – the political economy of the country and it’s effect on the various urbanisms we find present within Phnom Penh. We’ve studied Phnom Penh as a whole and the processes of transformation that sit behind the city we see before us today. We have studied individual sites, most notably Pongro Senchey, and the people who inhabit them is palimpsests of transformation. Read together, these three scales of study help us to understand the process of city making and how individual communities inscribe the paradigms of transformation at play in the city. In studying our three drivers of transformation within the city of Phnom Penh, we are hoping to understand them in a way that enables us to create strategies for citywide upgrading that improve conditions for the urban poor. In doing so, we must first understand where the city is headed? What future does our analysis suggest, if left unchecked, the current processes of transformation would lead us towards? Only by understanding this can we hope to make strategic interventions that steer development and transformation in a way that favours the urban poor.

Challenging Impossibility

From Pongro Senchey and the other sites we identified a number of trends which our strategies will work to emulate or address: In the most part, upgrading of informal settlements happens incrementally. This is due partly to a lack of financial and material resources but also uncertainty about the future. Whilst this holds clear benefits as an appropriate form of development, it also misses opportunities for effective design of shared infrastructures. Many communities struggle with un or underemployment which in some situations is leading to crime. This is set to get worse as the bulge in the youth population reaches working age, ill-equipped to an increasingly skills-led market. Decisions on the future of informal settlements are primarily based on economic analysis. This undervalues the role of social networks in the absence of a welfare state and includes no recognised measure for how communities rely on their surroundings. There is a particularly strong link between health and land as families sell land to pay for healthcare.

There is a habit amongst all actors of passing on responsibility for water and waste management. With no clear accountability, the impacts are moved from one place to another without any attempt to tackle the route of the problem. Despite it being stated in the Housing Policy, communities are rarely given a time period for their short-medium term future. This means they are still living with uncertainty and the constant threat of eviction. There is no transparency to governmental process on informal settlements. There is no clear guidance provided to communities and no tools for holding the authorities accountable to legislation such as the Housing Policy and The Circular 3. The state does not enforce a sense of responsibility amongst private enterprises to the communities in which they operate. Companies are allowed to take profits from an area without investing in the infrastructure, natural resources or people on which they depend. Companies and settlements often exist side-by-side with no relationship other than proximity.

There has been some successes amongst the urban poor through collaboration and hard infrastructure acts as a catalyst for further change. Examples such as the Community Savings Networks, the unionisation of the garment factory workers and the Pongro Senchey’s drainage system have activated further development and new partnerships. Informal settlements rely heavily on NGO’s, both for technical and financial support. This single source of funding is vulnerable and examples from the ACCA project suggest benefits in diversifying the funding sources for upgrading projects. Market led development of the centre of Phnom Penh and other strategically important parts of the city is encouraging a policy of relocations. Our analysis shows a strong case for on-site relocation in some cases but the current method of evidence collection does not account for this. Through using these trends as a base for our strategy development, we hope to create strategies specific to the Cambodian context that create a sustainable approach to improving the sense of security for residents of informal settlements in Phnom Penh. All strategies fit with our main aims of creating a

Challenging Impossibility

Interpreting our analysis

networked group of alternative power bases, improving the resilience of funding mechanisms for improving life in informal settlements and working to include the urban poor in the grand narrative of Phnom Penhâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development.

CHALLENGES

Political transformation and the creation of state

Lack of transparency in the political processes and implementation of policies No Land tenure -community lives with a constant threat of eviction.

OPPORTUNITIES Willingness to help by local authority but no authority

Empty land parcels in the vicinity proposed development

with

Lack of quality shared space. The community is organised only for saving groups and not as a community of place

Market driven globalization and privatization

Un/ Under employment in the communities with unstable income Increase in land prices due to development of surrounding plots

With the existing need for skill based market, the informal economy in the communities having a wide range of skills set can be enhanced and formalised to reach a wide network. Can help the communites become self Community dependent on surroundings for jobs, cuts down travelling time and cost

Community mobilization and politilization

This diagram summarises what our analysis suggests as the main challenges and opportunities for the development of Pongro Senchey.

Fig 43. Drivers of transformation analysisChallenges and opportunities

Challenging Impossibility

Environment Systems

Community mobilisation focussed mainly on material infrastructure

Operative and functional saving group in all the communities could be further strengthened to help the in the incremental upgrading of houses and infrastructure along with improving livelihood prospects

Lack of garbage disposal system along

Tackling problem rather than the solution

accountability of the government

City wide approach of waste management

Weak collective action for negotiation with l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t for their right to stay.

Soil and air pollution

Using waste as a resource Health benefits of reducing traffic

Fig 44. Fieldwork in Pongro Senchey Community

Challenging Impossibility

Interpreting our analysis

4.2 Vision

House

Person

Relocated to Pongro Senchey from the provinces in search of economic opportunities. Jek Chhun

Working from within the reality of ‘informality’ •

• • •

•

Developing incrementally to mirror the access to finance and be flexible around lifestyle. Starting from a point of necessity to build trust and muster support. Working with the material and spatial reality to create a liveable environment. Recognising that ‘future’ refers mostly to the medium term and setting priorities accordingly. Valuing the services the communities provide to each other in the absence of state support

Creating tools for accountable upgrading

Enabling self-sufficiency

•

Creating new spaces for negotiation and partnerships •

•

Challenging Impossibility

Increasing the number and diversity of actors involved in decision making Planning for clarity, creating tools that translate the decision making process into a language understandable by all Setting clear responsibilities

Finding new incentives to increase the role of the private sector in upgrading and maintaining infrastructure. Finding new incentives to encourage the state’s role as a negotiator and regulator of private enterprise. Increasing understanding of the conditions of informal settlements amongst new partners, especially private enterprise. Working to uncover shared understandings and opportunities for development.

• •

•

Working to preserve the basic community functions that create a stable base for quality of life. Preserving and increasing the resilience of the support networks of communities Opening up and clarifying the decision making and financing processes to enable communities to participate. Creating economic opportunities within communities.

Challenging entrenched views •

• •

Using a design-led approach to rethink solutions that have previously been viewed as ‘impossible’ Deconstructing opinions to create new approaches and solutions. Using design to make all actors think differently

Fig 45. Development of principles through housing stories

Principles

Housing as a resource for generating income.

Diversifying (and create new) bases for power and finance, include the urban poor in the grand narrative of the city and to create tools for accountability. Principles

Themes

Lived elsewhere in Phnom Penh but moved as they could no longer afford where they lived. Forced to sell past houses to pay for basic needs. Having a house close to jobs is a priority.

Sok Oun

Upgrading houses to accommodate growing families.

Working from within the reality of 'informality'

Creating tools for accountable upgrading

Upgrading incrementally, saving and building as and when they can. Raising the level of their houses to mitigate against floods. Churu Vanney

Occupying based on verbal or other informal contracts.

Creating new spaces for negotiation and partnership between 'formal' and 'informal'

Borrowed money for upgrading. Created extra space to generate income through rent. Keo

Upgrading trajectory form palm to zinc and/or bricks to concrete.

Enabling self-sufficiency

Spaces that have different uses depending on time of day. Self built and/or designed.

Chanaa

Poor health of a family member leading to loss of housing and a sink into poverty and informality.

Challenging entrenched views

Leveraging free resources. Place great importance on state recognition. Chum Murn

Have other family (other than direct) in the community.

Challenging Impossibility

5. ALTERNATIVE FUTURESUP-

GRADING Using design research to co-create strategies at the community and city scale

Challenging Impossibility

â&#x20AC;?

Alternative futures

This chapter shows the outcomes of our design research, highlighting the main issues that these communities confront. This chapter will focus on our theoretical and analytical framework which substitute our main understanding of Cambodiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transition and transformation. Based on this analysis, the first part of the chapter discusses the three on-site scenarios we used to explore the limits of perception of the community and local authority. The next part expands on these to build our city wide strategies, evolving from our Cambodian specific vision and principles.

5.1 SCENARIOS With our vision and principles in mind, we developed three scenarios to provoke a richer conversation on the future of Pongro Senchey

Fig 46. Group work at Pongro Senchey Community

Challenging Impossibility

A plan to share joint responsibility for a road, shifting it to preserve houses and create new economic opportunities. Reblocking the community into a smaller space on the same site with a density concession for the developer. Community centred relocation with the community playing a key role in choosing the new site.

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

SCENARIO 1 Road Sharing Through partnership, create a new relationship between community and developer, facilitated and encouraged by the local authority through negotiations between the actors in order to implement the housing policy. This also challenges the notion of relocation as the only option and acknowledges the cost and social benefit of onsite upgrading.

Outcome A true compromise is reached and mutual benefits found as new businesses emerge and new services are created. This partnership and negotiation creates a space for each party to understand the others priorities and needs and leads to a shared responsibility and appreciation for the space.

Context According to the local authority, the canal is proposed as a road in the future to serve the real estate developments in the vicinity. Inspite of lack of infrastructure and future uncertainty, the people of the community donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to relocate as the community has been upgrading effectively and quickly over the years.

Fig 48. Scenario 1 Road sharing conceptual perspective

ACCA PROJECT/ ACHR

MARKET

GOVERNMENT

What While retaining the houses, the 3m road in front of the community can be developed with 4.5m wide stretch of land from the adjacent development.

Fig 47. Scenario 1 Road Sharing

Challenging Impossibility

Grants and funds

Provision of land

Private developer Regulation Province Authority

COMMUNITY

Saving groups

LOCAL NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

CDF

Local Authority

Provision of services

Upgrading of houses

IMPLEMENTATION

New Economic activities

Loans

Fig 49. Road Sharing Process diagram

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

SCENARIO 2 Re-blocking

The incremental construction of houses would happen with professional assistance (financial and technical).

Redesign the community, on-site to maximize the efficiency of space and service provision along with obtaining secure land tenure (collective) by negotiations between the govt and developer for provision of land in return for density concession (to prevent income loss).

Outcome Creation of quality shared space The road development can go on as planned

Context The community is dependant on its location due to proximity to jobs and business opportunities along with a strong strong social network/ capital that needs to be preserved. What Reblocking the houses at the southern tip of the site on the adjacent private land accounting of 5 % of the total land area.

MARKET

GOVERNMENT

The local authority, the community savings network and ACCA provide funds for the move (the local authority providing new infrastructure for water, drainage and electricity) and with technical support from local NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Community works with local university to redesign shared space within the new reblocked site.

Grants and funds

ACCA PROJECT/ ACHR Private developer Negotiation of density Province Authority

COMMUNITY

Participatory Workshop

LOCAL NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

CAN- CAM

Fig 50. Reblocking Process diagram

Challenging Impossibility

Project Steering Commitee

Provision of land

Local Authority Scheme for reblocking

Provision of services

IMPLEMENTATION

Better Space design and delivery of services

Technical Support

Fig 51. Scenario 2 Reblocking

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

SCENARIO 3 Relocation

Outcome People centered relocation

Pongro Senchey Community Priorities model Land value

The strategy aims to create an accountable relocation process where the lives and livelihoods of the community is considered rather than just their homes. The findings of this become the criteria for finding a relocation site, which the community participates in. Context With the industrial boom and increasing developments in the surrounding areas, there is increase of land prices and pressure on the community for relocation. The relocation process and location is mainly influenced by the land prices of the area. What A community mapping exercise with help of local NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s would map the footprint of the community considering factors like services, infrastructure, economic opportunities, education and healthcare. The incremental construction of houses would happen with professional assistance (financial and technical).

Economic opportunities

Services

Infrastructure

Education

Health care Fig 52. Pongro Senchey Community Priorities model

Por Senchey District Priorities model Financial Assistance

ACCA PROJECT/ ACHR

Land value ACADEMIC PARTNERS

GOVERNMENT

COMMUNITY

Organization

Economic opportunities

Services Local Authority

Financial Assistance Participatory Workshop

Selection of Site

Saving Groups Infrastructure

LOCAL NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

IMPLEMENTATION

CAN-CAM

Education

Technical Support Health care

Fig 54. Relocation Site Cambodia

Fig 53. Relocation Process diagram

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

Scaling up in the urban context is seen as a process that has a range of dimensions and sectors, one that changes the quality of the city and its political institutions. It serves to restructure politics of the urban through interactions and flaws inherent in this process which works on multi-sectoral levels. (Fiori, 2013)

The Cambodian context is uniquely complex, corrupt and confusing. Time scales and funding sources elongate or dissipate on the whims of a few powerful men with little or no accountability. What other support for informal settlements exists comes from a small number of sources, also prone to disappearing at shortnotice as strategies or priorities change. The status quo favours those in power and there is little incentive to change.

These alternative power and finance bases need to be highly localised, specific to each community, each issue or individual personalities. The issues and priorities vary with each location and physicality and the different sites have shown that spatial strategies are only as effective as the people carrying them out. But to have longevity and be effective, these strategies and their owners need to be networked. The local energy needs scaling up to a citywide approach.

In scaling up site-specific strategies to the city, we reduced to their essence, the strategies created in Pongro Senchey. By creating a set of design principles; spaces of negotiation, partnerships between the formal and informal, enabling self-sufficiency and challenging entrenched views (explored further in the following chapter) the aim is to make a positive transformation that is sustainable. The principles lead directly to the strategies not only at a community level but at the citywide urban context as they are aimed at being locally sensitive but widely applicable, highly contextual and based within the current constellation of actors, financially viable, efficient, and in line with the current policy.

Informal settlements need approaches that fit this system, working with it when they can and against or despite it when they need to. They need solutions that work on the same time scale as them – ‘forever’ isn’t necessarily a priority but they do need a fair understanding of the medium-term future goes beyond the simple house upgrading.

Our strategies build on the current reality, working to leverage ideas that are working or have potential and create new solutions where none currently exist. We seek to promote selfsufficiency, create new relationships and set appropriate and realistic incentives to work towards three main aims

5.4 CITYWIDE UPGRADING STRATEGIES

ON- SITE SCENARIOS

Working from within the reality of 'informality'

Creating tools for accountable upgrading

Creating new spaces for negotiation and partnership between 'formal' and 'informal'

CITY- WIDE STRATEGIES

On site upgrading Political transformation and the creation of state

Reblocking Market driven globalization and privatization

Relocation Community mobilization and politilization

Enabling self-sufficiency Un/ Under employment Challenging entrenched views

To do this, power and finance bases need decentralising, new ones need creating and existing models need questioning. More and new actors need to be involved in funding and decision making to make it fairer, more

Environment Systems

T R A N S F O R M A T I ON

accountable and more visible. The process may be longer but in Phnom Penh, this might make more ideas a reality.

O F

5.3 THE CONTEXT FOR SCALING UP

D R I V E R S

5.2 SCALING UP FOR CITY WIDE UPGRADING

Waste and Water management Fig 55. Urban Design Research Process diagram (right)

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

STRATEGY 1

Collaboration upgrading

The process â&#x20AC;˘ District authority, in line with Section 5.2. Institutional Coordination and Stakeholder Participation A. Government of the National Housing Policy, takes responsibility for negotiating between communities, private developers and other service providers to agree in compromises for land sharing. â&#x20AC;˘ A community development fund is created through a social responsibility levy taken from developers who buy land in close proximity to informal settlements. â&#x20AC;˘ The developers are responsible at the Khan level and collaboratively, the developers, the community and the Khan work together to implement upgrading projects. Loans are used to develop the infrastructure and enable land to be effectively shared.

fund

A funding mechanism to encourage collaboration and shared understanding between informal communities and private enterprise through joint responsibility for space Private developers are a main driver behind the physical transformation on Phnom Penh; recognizing them as key actors, grounded on the Cambodian context, it is essential to get them involved in the socio-spatial development by setting the right incentives. This new scheme builds on some aspects of the ACCA Program (due to phase out) and uses finance and medium sized infrastructure projects as a lever to catalyse community action and settlement upgrading, building upon existing policy and programmes.

Challenging Impossibility

Fig 56. Strategy 1. Private development projects and their social responsability influence in Phnom Penh Fig 57. Strategy 1 Plan Spatialisation

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

MINISTRY OF LAND MANAGEMENT, URBAN PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

KHAN

National Housing Policy

Social responsability levy Incentives for all

PRIVATE DEVELOPERS

Negotiations

parties

Loans SERVICE PROVIDERS

Request for COMMUNITY

Fig 58. Strategy 1 Process Diagram

Challenging Impossibility

upgrading

Settlement Upgrading

The benefits • A viable way of living up to the housing policy – adequate housing, collaborative, direct participation, allows temporary occupation, focuses on on-site development. • Engages the private sector into sociospatial development and increases their understanding of how development is affecting communities. New relationships are formed between the different actors making them harder to ignore and creating opportunities to uncover shared opportunities. • Diversifies (and hopefully future-proofs) the sources of funding for upgrading. • Encourages community organisation by continuing the ACCA approach of requiring a certain level of participation to be viable. • Recognition for informal settlements, allows for some investment and upgrading without having to wait for a final decision on land tenureship. • Continuity of a successful programme -ACCA- that has taken place in Cambodia for many years.

Fig 59. Strategy 1 Perspective Spatialisation

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

STRATEGY 2

Pongro Senchey Community Priorities model

Land value

Steung Kombot Settlement

Land-use relocation

capture

for

A new model for assessing the impact of relocation and facilitating a negotiation to uncover new solutions and challenge entrenched views

Infrastructure

Challenging Impossibility

Education

Health care

Heam Cheat Settlement E

A community-led way to incorporate the ‘softer’ costs and benefits of a neighbourhood and the capture of land-use value to a relocation process. When relocation is in the foreseeable future, the method helps in evaluating the viability of relocation sites, accepting the community’s relationship with the immediate built environment as key to socio-spatial development. Accountable and negotiable, this approach considers the relocation of ‘lives’ rather than simply ‘houses’ to represent the dependency of Phnom Penh’s urban poor communities on their surroundings for their day-day subsistence.

Economic opportunities

Services

Por Senchey District Priorities model

LV HC

Prek Takong Settlement

Pongro Senchey Settlement LV

LV EO

Land value

Economic opportunities

Services

LV EO

Infrastructure E

Fig 60. Priority models of analysis sites

Steung Meanchey Settlement

Education

Smor San Settlement

Health care

Fig 61. Priority models of Pongro Senchey Community and Local Authorities

The process • The community works together to set their priorities for what makes their lives liveable. Using a new framework, developed by a team of economists from local universities with technical support from NGO’s, they quantify these in relation to each other and against internationally recognised metrics. • This is presented to the local authority as a tool for negotiation to demonstrate the needs of the community, specific to the location of their homes. • The local authority creates their own version of the diagram to represent the priorities of the broader district. • A minimum area size/shape for the diagram is agreed between the local authority, the community and external partners as ‘auditors’. • The local authority uses the method as a tool to evaluate the validity of potential relocation sites. • The local authority creates a development plan for the relocation site based on the blueprint of the diagram from the previous site for the community to approve.

The benefits • Creates a more concrete framework for measuring ‘softer’ impacts of relocation, rather than just the economic value and private benefit. • Makes relocation a true negotiation; each actor is able to expose its own and see the others priorities. • Creates a tool for accountability to hold local authorities to the housing policy • Gives a richer picture on relocation – the most favourable option for the authorities and the least for communities.

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

KHAN

ACADEMIC PARTNERS

Plan for development Set priorioties

Quantification model

of new site

Criteria to measure Negotiations

Agreement on needs

viability of relocation sites

LOCAL NGO - CDF

COMMUNITY

Set priorities

Community approves plan

Fig 62. Strategy 2 Process Diagram

Challenging Impossibility

Fig 63. Pongro Senchey Community

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

STRATEGY 3

The strategy aims to create â&#x20AC;&#x153;Communities of practiceâ&#x20AC;? where groups of people from different settlements who share a domain of interest and skills engage in a process of collective learning and sharing of knowledge/experience enabling them to understand the market better and perform effectively. The apprenticeship program enables the institutionalisation of these processes to enhance their capacities and create a direct link between learning and performance. By leveraging existing networks and creating new ones, we seek to create new economic opportunities for urban poor residents in un/underemployment situations.

Business leadership for Phnom Penh

A citywide apprenticeship scheme to train low income youths to run their own businesses and close the gap between the economy and the workforce. Cambodia is moving into a skill-based economy -manufacturing and agro-industrial sector-, following not only the global market but the vision of the Government in the Cambodia Industrial Development Policy 2015 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2025. To be a global city with a global market, the city needs a skilled workforce but as the bulge in the youth population reaches working age, through a low-quality and corrupt education system, a dangerous gap is emerging between the jobs and the workforce. In informal settlements un or underemployment is leading to crime but there is an opportunity to train the urban poor to be a part of the economic development of the city.

Challenging Impossibility

Fig 64. Strategy 3 . Skill, local business and un/under employment in analysis sites

Fig 65. Strategy 3. Laverage of existing networks

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

MINISTRY OF COMMERCE

The process • The Ministry for Commerce provides match funding to businesses taking on apprentices to businesses that operate in areas identified as important to the ongoing economic development of Phnom Penh. • Businesses either provide direct funding or in-kind support (for the smaller businesses). • Trainees give their time and skills in return for training on the running of a business and how to scale one or two-man enterprises. • The scheme is administered through the Community Savings Networks and local social-enterprise focussed NGO’s as a guarantor to the reliability of the trainees.

Matchfounding

LOCAL BUSINESS AND SMALL BUSINESS NETWORKS

Apprenticeships programme

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CAMBODIA DON BOSCO FOUNDATION

Guarantors and

Application for

managers

apprenticeships

COMMUNITY SAVINGS NETWORKS - CDF

UN/UNDEREMPLOYED COMMUNITY MEMBERS

Provide labour

Acquisition of business skills Fig 66. Strategy 3. Process Diagram

Challenging Impossibility

The benefits • Close the gap between the economy and the workforce. • Includes the urban poor in the grand vision of a globally competitive Phnom Penh by equipping them with the skills they will need in the future city. • The development of shared practice can strengthen the social network between skilled residents from different settlements and create new ones between the residents and local business, supporting them to move from the local scale to the city scale. • Encourages learning from each other and co production of knowledge • Creates new links between business, private enterprise and the urban poor. • Upskills communities and encourages selfsufficiency. • Building the base of small and medium sized businesses in the city, a proven way of strengthening the city’s economy in a more equitable way.

Fig 69. Strategy 3. Example in community

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

STRATEGY 4

Radical redesigning for shared open spaces and infrastructure

A new approach to encourage the adoption of good design in the development of informal settlements, enabling efficient service provision and good shared spaces. New developments - Diamond Island, gated communities - are planned with an emphasis on open spaces, designed with public spaces and gardens incorporated. However, for the most part, Phnom Penh lacks quality shared spaces and informal settlements have an even worse condition. Regardless of the bad physical condition of the open spaces, urban poor residents still look for shared spaces and make use of spaces that can be adapted into them. 80

Challenging Impossibility

The idea of reblocking can be worrying for residents. In many cases it involves the controlled destruction of homes which many see as undesirable. But in some cases it can be seen as the ‘least-bad’ option and evidence from this project suggests that if we can re-problematize the strategy of reblocking then new solutions and compromises can be reached. This strategy uses reblocking as an opportunity to create better quality shared spaces and more efficient services and infrastructure. Learning from the incremental upgrading approach, replicating what works and improving what does not in the creation of a just build environment.

The process • Organised communities under threat of eviction or living under risky conditions, work together with local NGO’s as CANCam to decide on-site or near by reblocking for upgrading, with a people-centred approach. • Universities, as academic partners and technical experts, with a participatory approach, work with the community organisation to co-produce ideas and plans specially focused on the quality of shared spaces. • In line with the National Housing Policy, the Ministry of Land management, Urban Planning and Construction is the one in charge of convening and negotiating power to engage local developers (or landowners), keep land price low and encourage them to compromise. • Saving Networks, CDF and CSNC, intervene in the process collaborating in the financial support to the upgrading processes. • The local authority gives space and ideally approval for the communities to upgrade their build environment, following the plan made with technical experts. • Communities, with the support and recognition from the local authority and

Steung Kombot

Central Market

Neak Banh Teuk Park

Chamcar Morn District

Diamond Island City

Smor San Settlement Fig 70. Strategy 4 . Shares spaces in Phnom Penh

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

saving networks, upgrade their settlement with funds from the saving group, following the technical project by academic partners.

The benefits • Creates the opportunity for communities to be involved in the entire processes of redevelopment. • Has a focus on providing quality shared spaces in a city where public space is lacking. • Creates an opportunity to improve the efficiency of infrastructure and services. • It is a process that gives the communities agency and tools for negotiation. • Improvement of the build environment which improves livelihoods, environment, health, accessibility, provision of services.

MINISTRY OF LAND MANAGEMENT, URBAN PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

National Housing Policy

KHAN

Negotiations for low prices

Fig 73. Strategy 4 . Process diagram

PRIVATE DEVELOPERS

Fig 71. Strategy 4 . Reblocking in Smor San

Collaborative workshops

ACADEMIC PARTNERS

COMMUNITY NETWORKS CDF

Design Alternatives

Founding

LOCAL NGO

COMMUNITY Fig 72. Strategy 4 . Reblocking possibility in Smor San

Challenging Impossibility

Build the case

Improvement of the built enviroment

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

STRATEGY 5

A systems approach to the problem of waste and water

A citywide initiative to catalyse new actors to help improve the environmental issues of waste and water. Waste management and water and drainage are problems that affect many communities. Whilst their impacts are highly localised, they are systemic problems for which the causes and potential solutions exist at a city scale. Tackling the problem in one location can lead to an exacerbation of impacts downstream. Private enterprise has a large impact on the waste and water systems within the city as both major consumers and major contributors. Solving these systemic issues without their input would be difficult and unsustainable. Therefore an approach is needed that works within the 84

Challenging Impossibility

reality of the corporate system, recognising its drivers and setting incentives appropriately. By setting financial incentives and legal obligations, the state can shift the responsibility of waste plastic and safe drinking water provision onto the companies responsible for producing the waste. This strategy uses financial and regulatory incentives to encourage the private sector to invest in citywide waste and water infrastructure for the medium-long term. In doing so it hopes to encourage better links between private companies and the communities in which they operate through opening up a new space for negotiation. The strategy reflects the fact that whilst environmental factors were not presented as a key problem or priority in Pongro Senchey, evidence finds the city as a whole suffers a great deal as a result of them. (For simplicity we present the process through the example of a bottled water manufacturer.)

The process • A new policy makes the waste plastic bottles the legal responsibility of the companies that produce them. • Companies are fined if waste bottles build up as waste in the city. • Tax breaks are offered to companies who switch behaviours and collect waste postuse. • Tax-breaks are offered to companies investing in new technologies to deal with the problem such as energy-from-waste incinerators or new infrastructure for drinking water. • New infrastructures, funded and owned by the private sector are developed. As a result the amount of plastic being manufactured is reduced and thus waste. Drainage is also improved. • New market created for informal settlements in collecting waste to return to manufacturers. Fig 74. Strategy 5. System of responsability

Fig 75. Strategy 5 . Conceptual map

Challenging Impossibility

Alternative futures

The benefits • Leverages private sector investment for a city-wide environmental problem • Discourages impacts becoming the financial responsibility of the local authority. • Encourages problem solving and systems innovation through market forces

Collect generated waste

R&D on energy from waste

MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND HANDYCRAFTS

COCACOLA AND DANONE WATER COMPANY

COMMUNITY

Fig 76. Strategy 5 . System networks of responsability in Phnom Penh

Challenging Impossibility

Extensive water mapping

Policy change

Tax Break

Investment in potable water infra.

Behaviour change

Economic

Change on behaviour

opportunities

towards waste

Fig 77. Strategy 5 . Process Diagram

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6. CONCLUSIONS

“Sok Oun thinks little about the future. She isn’t sure on her rights to the land and doesn’t think about it too much. For now she is focussed on income, finding ways to pay the 70,000 per/month they must spend on water and electricity as well as for food. 88

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” 89

Conclusions

As the final chapter of the MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development, the Cambodia field trip represents the coming together of theory and practice. For us, a community of 151 houses on the outskirts of Phnom Penh where we understood reflexivity. It’s where we understood scale, witnessed how ‘reality’ changed as it translated from the academic page to the physical reality. Pongro Senchey was our vessel for the co-production of knowledge between our Cambodian colleagues, partners and the community. In it we realised this workshop wasn’t about finding solutions but rather asking better questions. We used design to probe – to ask new questions to unpick old problems and better questions to probe a more exciting and just future. For us Pongro Senchey was the classroom in which a year of study hit the ground and made sense.

previous groups, partner research and even the National Housing Policy show on-site upgrading is a viable option for many settlements. The policy exists but the political will to enact it does not extend beyond lip-service. There is no accountability. Those in power have benefited from a lack of transparency for years. As a few men have grown rich, the urban poor have become disenfranchised. Responsibilities are passed on, up, down and this rarely results in a positive outcome for the urban poor. Strategies should focus on the medium term. Residents of informal settlements have a shorter view of ‘future’. With a squatters mentality, even a relatively short respite from worrying about the future is significant. The medium term is also a good scale for establishing new partnerships.

which have gone through several rounds of development. At each stage we have explored them further, analysed and critiqued them. Our strategies are highly contextual, rooted in the existing reality of Phnom Penh, viable and financially feasible. With the exception of the 5th strategy, all are participatory and involve the community in the process. The 5th strategy needs further development to explore how the community could be involved in a solution so systematic and citywide – and if it did, what would be the role they could play?

As well as teaching us much about design research this also spawned a rich understanding of the space for informal settlement and the urban poor within urban transformation in Phnom Penh.

Alternatives exist everywhere. The people of Phnom Penh, formal or informal work with the system when they can, against it when they must and despite it when they need to. Thinking about solutions from this lend breeds new possibilities.

A common theme throughout our strategies is to increase the diversity of the actor base, bringing new and more diverse actors into the process to try to negate the ever changing context and increase the chance of project delivery. Without proper state involvement and regulation, this could lead to an exacerbation of the current problems, giving the markets more access to the communities that are made vulnerable by their processes already. We emphasis the importance of setting the right incentives, a carrot and not a stick.

Onsite upgrading is possible. Reports from

Our conclusions led us to a set of strategies

A gap in our research we would live to explore

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further is that of the environmental processes within the transformation processes. Our analysis of Pongro Senchey did not lead us to the issues of waste and water as immediate priorities and as such, environment tends towards a passive process in our strategies. We recognise Pongro Senchey as an exception in this respect and it would thus be interesting to explore a more active role for the environment in influencing citywide upgrading strategies. Our research, analysis and strategies seek to challenge the ‘impossibilities’ of informal settlement upgrading in Phnom Penh in order to seek new urban alternatives. In doing so we have developed new relationships, new understandings of urban design and new readings of ourselves.

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Conclusion

7. REFERENCES

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REFERENCES ACCA. 2010. Citywide upgrading in 11 Cambodian cities http://www.achr.net/upload/downloads/ file_03022014181311.pdf ACHR (2004) Negotiating the right to stay in the city. Environment and Urbanization. [online]. Available from: http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/095624780401600103 (Accessed 11 February 2014). ADB, 2016. Cambodia Needs Skills Upgrade to Sustain Growth, Diversity Economy. Anon., FV. Amnesty International (2008), RIGHTS RAZED: Forced evictions at Cambodia at 4, 44. Archer, Diane. 2012. Finance as the key to unlocking community potential: savings, funds and the ACCA programme. Environment and urbanization. Vol. 24 (2) 423-440. http://eau.sagepub.com/content/24/2/423.full Asian Coalition for Housing Rights. 2001. Building an urban poor people’s movement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Environment&Urbanization Vol 13 (2)October 2001. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/21st_Century/resources/papers/documents/achr-cambodia.pdf Belloni, R. (2001). Civil society and peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Journal of peace Research, 38(2), 163-180. Boano, C.; Leclair-Paquet, B.(2014) Space and Polity: Potential, freedom and space: Reflections on Agamben’s potentialities in the West Bank, Space and Polity. Brenner, Neil. 2013. Theses on Urbanization. Public culture. Volume 25(6) 69: 85-114 94

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Camillo Boano & Benjamin Leclair-Paquet , Space and Polity (2014): Potential, freedom and space: Reflections on Agamben’s potentialities in the West Bank, Space and Polity. Clammer, John (2003) Globalisation, Class, Consumption and Civil Society in Southeast Asian Cities, in Urban Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 403-419. Choguill, M. B. G. (1996). A ladder of community participation for underdeveloped countries. Habitat international, 20(3), 431-444. Drakakis-Smith, David (1977) Housing the Urban Poor in West Malaysia: The Role of the Private Sector’, in Habitat International, Vol. 2, Issues 5-6, pp. 571-584. Dikeç, M. (2012). Space as a mode of political thinking. Geoforum, 43(4), 669-676. Durand-Lasserve, A. (2007) Market-Driven Eviction Processes in Developing Country Cities: the Cases of Kigali in Rwanda and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Global Urban Development Magazine. 3 (1), . [online]. Available from: http://www.globalurban.org/GUDMag07Vol3Iss1/Durand-Lasserve.htm. Enhanced Review of the Land Management and Administration Project. 2009. Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTCAMBODIA/147270-1174545988782/22303366/FINALERMREPORT.pdf Foucault, M., Rabinow, P., & Hurley, R. (1997). The essential works of Michel Foucault, 1954-1984. Girling, John ‘Development and democracy in SE Asia’, Pacific Review 1.4 (1988): 332. Grimsditch, M. & Henderson, N. (2009) “Untitled”. Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in the Cambodian Land Sector. Natalie Bugalski & David Pred (eds.). Phnom Penh: Bridges Across Borders South-

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east Asia. [online]. Available from: http://www.babcambodia.org/untitled/untitled.pdf. Hughes, C. (2003) The Political Economy of Cambodia’s Transition, 1991–2001. [Online]. Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis. [online]. Available from: http://www.tandfebooks.com/action/showBook?doi=10.4324/9780203221754. Lefebvre, H. (1996). The right to the city. Writings on cities, 63-181. Martin, D., McCann, E., & Purcell, M. (2003). Space, scale, governance, and representation: contemporary geographical perspectives on urban politics and policy. Journal of Urban Affairs, 25(2), 113-121. Miraftab, F., & Wills, S. (2005). Insurgency and spaces of active citizenship the Story of western cape anti-eviction campaign in South Africa. Journal of planning education and research, 25(2), 200-217. Mgbako, C., Gao, R. E., Joynes, E., Cave, A., & Mikhailevich, J. (2010). Forced eviction and resettlement in Cambodia: case studies from Phnom Penh. Washington University Global Studies Law Review, 9, 39. Phnom Penh: From the Politics of Ruin to the Possibilities of Return. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, 1st October 2011, Vol.23(1), pp.55-68. http://iaste.berkeley.edu/iaste/wp-content/ uploads/2012/07/23.1-Fall-11-Nam.pdf

STT & Tudehope, M. (2012) A tale of two cities. A review of the development paradigm in Phnom Penh. Nora Lindstrom (ed.). STT. Till, J. (1998) “Architecture of the Impure Community,” in Occupations of Architecture, ed. Jonathan Hill, London: Routledge, 61-75 Tnau, S. T., 2012. PHNOM PENH City of Water. UN (2001) United Nations Development Goals - Cambodia. [online]. Available from: http://www. undg.org/archive_docs/162-Cambodia_MDG_Report_- _International_Development.pdf. United Nations. Date Not available. Cambodia-United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/untacbackgr1.html Yeoh, B.S. A. (2005) The Global Cultural City? Spatial Imagineering and Politics in the (Multi)cultural Marketplaces of Southeast Asia. Urban Studies, Vol. 42, 5-6, 945- 958. Yusuf, S., & World Bank. (1999). World Development Report 1999/2000: Entering the 21st century . New York: Oxford University Press, for the World Bank.

Rabe, Paul. 2009. From “squatters” to citizens? Slum dwellers, developers, land sharing and power in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. University of Southern California, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. Shatkin, G. (1998) “Fourth World” Cities in the Global Economy: The Case of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. [online]. Available from: http://www. blackwellsynergy.com/links/doi/10.1111%2F1468-2427.00147.

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LIST OF FIGURES Fig1. Methodological process, page 2 Fig 2. Phases of Research, page 4 Fig 3. Steung Meanchey Community, page 5 Fig 4. Administrative division of Phnom Penh, page 9 Fig 5. Timeline of Cambodiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transformation, page 10-11 Fig 6. International involvements reflected in the urban, page 12 Fig 7. Actors involved in shaping urban poor settlements in Phnom Penh, page 13 Fig 8. Schematic transformation involving the main drivers, page 17 Fig 9. Drivers of transformation in Phnom Penh, page 19 Fig 10. Eviction and relocation sites in Phnom Penh, page 22 Fig 11. Developed and planned satellite cities, page 23 Fig 12. Industrial areas in Phnom Penh, page 25 Fig 13. Asian Coalition for Community Action Projects, page 27 Fig 14. Tools for Analysis, page 30 Fig 15. Pongro Senchey lCommunity, page 31 Fig 16. Pongro Senchey Community location in Phnom Penh, page 32 Fig 17. Historical growth of Pongro Senchey and its sorroundings, page 33 Fig 18. Jek Chhun house section, page 34 Fig 19. Churu Vanny house section, page 34 Fig 20. Themes from housing stories, page 35 Fig 21. Housing Typology Analysis, page 36 Fig 22. Housing Typology pictures, page 37 Fig 23. Land analysis of Pongro Senchey, page 38 Fig 24. Infrastructure Analysis in Pongro Senchey, page 39 Fig 25. Environmental Analysis in Pongro Senchey, page 40 Fig 26. Livelihood Analysis on the neighbourhood scale, page 41 Fig 27. Site location in Phnom Penh, page 42 98

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Fig 28. Social activity in Smor San Community, page 43 Fig 29. Tombs in Smor San Community, page 43 Fig 30. Smor San Community, page 43 Fig 31. Steung Kombot Settlement, page 44 Fig 32. Steung Kombot Settlement view, page 44 Fig 33. Inside Steung Kombot Settlement, page 44 Fig 34. Prek Takong Settlement view, page 45 Fig 35. Housing in Prek Takong Settlement, page 45 Fig 36. Prek Takong Settlement , page 45 Fig 37. Steung Meanchey Settlement, page 46 Fig 38. Canal in Steung Meanchey Community, page 46 Fig 39. Housing in Steung Meanchey Settlement, page 46 Fig 40. Water infrastructure Heam Cheat Settlement, page 47 Fig 41. Heam Cheat Settlement located inside an old cinema, page 47 Fig 42. Heam Cheat Settlement interior, page 47 Fig 43. Drivers of transformation analysisChallenges and opportunities, page 52 Fig 44. Fieldwork in Pongro Senchey Community, page 53 Fig 45. Development of principles through housing stories, page 55 Fig 46. Group work at Pongro Senchey Community, page 58 Fig 47. Scenario 1 Road Sharing, page 60 Fig 48. Scenario 1 Road sharing conceptual perspective, page 61 Fig 49. Road Sharing Process diagram, page 61 Fig 50. Reblocking Process diagram, page 62 Fig 51. Scenario 2 Reblocking, page 63 Fig 52. Pongro Senchey Community Priorities model, page 64 Fig 53. Relocation Process diagram, page 64 Fig 54. Relocation Site Cambodia, page 65 Fig 55. Urban Design Research Process diagram, page 67 Fig 56. Strategy 1. Private development projects and their social responsability influence in Phnom Penh, page 68

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Fig 57. Strategy 1 Plan Spatialisation, page 69 Fig 58. Strategy 1 Process Diagram, page 70 Fig 59. Strategy 1 Perspective Spatialisation, page 71 Fig 60. Priority models of analysis site, page 72 Fig 61. Priority models of Pongro Senchey Community and Local Authorities, page 73 Fig 62. Strategy 2 Process Diagram, page 74 Fig 63. Pongro Senchey Community, page 75 Fig 64. Strategy 3 . Skill, local business and un/under employment in analysis sites, page 76 Fig 65. Strategy 3. Laverage of existing networks, page 77 Fig 66. Strategy 3. Process Diagram, page 78 Fig 69. Strategy 3. Example in community, page 79 Fig 70. Strategy 4 . Shares spaces in Phnom Penh, Page 81 Fig 71. Strategy 4 . Reblocking in Smor San, page 82 Fig 72. Strategy 4 . Reblocking possibility in Smor San, page 82 Fig 73. Strategy 4 . Process diagram, page 83 Fig 74. Strategy 5. System of responsibility, page 85 Fig 75. Strategy 5 . Conceptual map, page 85 Fig 76. Strategy 5 . System networks of responsability in Phnom Penh, page 86 Fig 77. Strategy 5 . Process Diagram, page 87

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8. APPENDIX

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APPENDIX 1 PRE-FIELDTRIP PREPARATION

Seminars During three weeks of fieldtrip preparation, different seminars with various topics were given by different lecturers to help us have a first image of the country and the city, understanding them through lenses of land, finance and scale.

DATE

Seminar I

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LECTURER Philippa McMahon (researcher at SOAS) Hallam Goad (former director of Sahmakum Teang Tnaut)

Working with urban poor communities in Cambodi

Colin Marx (DPU lecturer)

Land issues in contested cities

Peter Kellet (School of Architecture, Plannign and Landscape, Newcastle University)

The challenges of longitudinal research and the ethnographic experience of place and dwelling

Benjamin Flowers (PhD student, UCL, Geography Department)

Land issues in Phnom Penh

26/02/2016

Seminar II

04/03/2016

Seminar III

11/03/2016

TOPIC Phnom Penh and its relocation sites

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Workshop Sessions

Pre-fieldtrip Presentations

Three workshops were held to share our understanding on Cambodia. We tried to understand Cambodiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban transformation under the multi-context of history, politics, economy, geography, culture, space and globalization by using second-hand document analysis, namely, literature review, mapping and definition, through group discussions. Topics include area studies, land use and housing studies, urban space studies, policy regulations, governance plans, existing maps of the area, poverty and evictions studies, gender studies and media resources. According to the group research, different stakeholders from different aspects, land use diversity and potential financial logic during Cambodiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s socio-spatial transformation have been mapped out. DATE

LECTURER

Presentation I 18/03/2016 From all the seminars, workshop sessions and group discussions, the first presentation was aiming to show our understanding about the forces that shape Phnom Penh, based on three lenses, Political transformation and the creation of state, market forces, globalisation and privatisation, and community mobilisation and politicisation. We researched at city scale, and tried to understand the systems that have shaped the city we see before us. Then we begin to critically select key moments and actors in order to better understand the

26/02/2016

Giorgio Talocci

Mapping Phnom Penhâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grounds of investigation

Workshop II

11/03/2016

Catalina Ortiz and Giorgio Talocci

The challenges of scaling-up

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Catalina Ortiz and Giovanna Astolfo

Presentation II 27/04/2016 Based on the three lenses, the second presentation tried to analyse the transformation of Phnom Penh through the transitions of time. Synthesis of the analytical framework, the depiction of Phnom Penh and specifics sites transformation and transitions were analysed.

TOPIC

Workshop I

Workshop III

socio-spatial patterns of Phnom Penh and its political economy so as to contextualise possible interventions. Finally, we analysed data sources, spotting gaps and asked critical questions.

Phnom Penh transition: exploring urban transformation through people-driver citywide upgrading strategies

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Plan of Action We tried to understand Cambodia’s urban transformation under the multi-context of history, politics, economy, geography, culture, space and globalization by using secondhand document analysis, namely, literature review, mapping and definition, through group discussions. Topics include area studies, land use and housing studies, urban space studies, policy regulations, governance plans, existing maps of the area, poverty and evictions studies, gender studies and media resources. According to the group research, different stakeholders from different aspects, land use diversity and potential financial logic during Cambodia’s socio-spatial transformation have been mapped out.

• • • • •

the motion take place of the truth Be patient: whether the person we like or dislike Do not use words to lead the conversation and lead a result we want to have. Be focusing: be in the moment and do not be half in and half out Be open to accept different voices Do not equal our experience with interviewees

APPENDIX 2 IN-FIELD PROCESS

In order to make our research efficient, we made an action plan to lead our work in whole progress. Group members should do checkin and check-out every working day. Group members can say both something related to the work and their mood. Then we can know everyone if on the right track or need some help. • We also made a rule for in-depth interview: • Be objective: clearly understand what we want to get from the people and do not let

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Appendix

Lectures in Cambodia Different local authorities and NGOs gave lectures to the students. The lectures let us have a clearer image in our mind about Cambodia and Phnom Penh. During the Q&A section, we had an opportunity to know more specific information from the experts.

DATE

LECTURER

H.E. Dr. Chab Sotharith

Lectures I

Dr.Tep Makathy

Planning and policy for managing the future urban transformation and development in Cambodia

Sok Vanna

Housing,policy and planning: insights from and the role of NGOs and international agencies/ UN-Habitat in Cambodia

Chou Lennylen and CAN-CAM

Panel discussion Community Architect Network- Cambodia

H.E. Mann Chhoeurn and Somsak Phonphakdee

History, mission, activities of Community Development Foundation (CDF) in Cambodia, how relate to ACCA program and Community Architect Network-Cambodia

02/05/2016

Chun Kosal

Lectures II

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03/05/2016

TOPIC Historical development: economic, social and cultural, political in Cambodia that effects on the urban transformation and development (start from the Sangkum Reas Niyum, Lun Nol, Pul Pot regime,and Present)

People as centre and base development, the important of collective savings, city fund, city wide network, and national network process

You Sokunthea

Housing and planning policies, insight from Community Network

Working group

Panel discussion with community representatives, local authorities, city network

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Appendix

MEETINGS WITH COMMUNITIES 04/05/2016-09/05/2016

looked into their priorities and needs, focusing their project on the physicality of the road. In order not to overload the community and repeat activities, our focus in the community was the housing and neighbourhood scale. Actions: Mapping and analysis of the relationship between the community and the neighbourhood. In order to understand the different relationships with the immediate urban context, the neighbourhood scale analysis is based not only on conversation with community members but also on conversations with residents and workers of the area.

In Pongro Senchey we found an organised community with a functioning savings network, a democratic leadership, effective partnerships and three schools. with the community to explore possible alternatives and compromises for the future of the settlement. During the fieldtrip, we had a very specific situation in Pongro Senchey, and following strong presence of NGOs in Phnom Penh, we were in a position where other group â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Washington University â&#x20AC;&#x201C; was working, for the last month, with the community. They already

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In-depth interviews with community members to understand how housing and security impact their quality of life. The personal interviews are a way of understanding how policy decisions and context affect how people live. We talked to 6 community members and the insight of their lives gave a broader perspective of that of the community saving group.

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS Workshop 1 The first workshop with the community was a prototype and an ice breaker; 15 community members showed up, 8 men and 7 women. The workshop followed specific questions: what do you like about the community, what you do not like, what would you change and what would you keep. We discovered that the community likes the location of the community because it is close to their workplace and market. They prefer to stay in the community and do not want to move to other places. Besides, the community members showed a strong desire to have a better living condition. This community is working independently to upgrade the settlement, focusing on infrastructure to protect themselves from flood risk. They want to pave the road in front of the houses by using funds from the saving group, but the process of collecting money was not very efficient.

Workshops

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Appendix

Workshop 2 In the second workshop, 20 community members showed up and due to the information we got from the meeting with the local authorities on a possible road in the canal, we decided to focus on alternative futures for the settlement. The workshop was entirely in Khmer to allow fluidity to it and three options of development including road sharing, re-blocking, and relocation, were showed to the community members. Community members were divided into two discussion groups where they gave their opinion and preferences. Some of the community members think the onsite upgrading can be the best way to help them because it is less expensive and can bring potential for new business along the road. Community members taught the reblocking option is impossible. They believe government and private developers will not support the idea or give them land. In spite of the lack of infrastructure and uncertain future, the people of Pongro Senchey do not want to relocate. They strongly feel their location helps them with their economic and social activities.

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Appendix

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS Evading the Evictions Keo One of the most prominent memory for Keo Vuthy was the moment he along with many other families were forcefully evicted from their house in Borei Keila in January 2012. He can still feel the pain and horror of the military force destroying houses and evicting people. It was a lost battle after years of advocating for their right to stay and protesting against evictions. He had moved to Borei Keila in 1998 from another province in search of better job opportunities. This settlement was suggested to him by his relatives as it was a flourishing settlement for poor people at the time in the city. He lived in a single room in a wooden house with stilts and paid 10 $ a month for rent. Although with no public utilities, he still liked the place due to its close proximity to the city centre and plenty of job opportunities. It was not until 2003-2004, when electricity was connected up from the neighbours and cost about 1500 riels a month. He liked to stroll near the Olympia stadium, which was a hub of activities.

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Only if he had known about the adversity that was about to change their fate. The land was soon taken for the development of one of the satellite cities by the Phanimax company. He was not among the many families to get relocated in the newly constructed houses in the same neighbourhood. The relocation sites as provided by the company were far away from the city and didnt have the basic infrastructure as was promised by the developers .He was just offered a compensation of 400-500 $. He was devastated by this entire situation, but being aware of the situation decided to take charge of the situation and planned in advance. He started saving to buy land in another place not so far from the city centre. It was on one of his journeys while working as a taxi driver that he had come across the area of Por Ro Sen Chey in the Pou Sen Chey Khan, where people had just stated to settle in. In 2000 he bought a piece of land in the settlement by adding some of his savings to the borrowed money from a lender. The land sale took place with just a verbal contract with no legal document. This cost him about 40 dollars. He still recalls the vast rice fields and no major developments in the area. Around 20-30

houses were scattered on the canal. He bought the land in 2000 but didn’t want to move here because it was a bit further away from the city and quieter. In 2007, he decided to construct a house here for renting it out. He constructed a basic structure with wood and zinc sheets.

time. He still misses living in his old community. His savvy and pragmatic nature has helped him in his decisions along the way.

It is now four years that Keo moved in to Pong Ro Sen Chey and now lives with his sister. He borrowed money to upgrade his house and build brick walls. Not only did he manage to upgrade his house over the course of time but also managed to buy the adjacent land to his house and put it on rent. He wishes to keep upgrading his house in the future as and when is financially viable for him. Although he loves his houses, he doesn’t feel a part of the Pong Ro Sen Chey community and doesn’t feel the need to indulge with the other residents in the community. Also being a part of the saving group doesn’t seem like a necessity to him. His contribution in the recent addition of the drainage pipes in the settlement was also paid by the government which amounted to around 64 $ (for 4 pipes). Today, Keo working as a moto taxi driver, still regularly visits the Olympia stadium in his free

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Appendix

Another home is possible Churu Vanny Churu Vanny, 44 years old is now re-married with 2 children who live with him in their (current) house in the Pongro Senchey community. His daughter is 3 and his son who is 23 helps out with his job when he can. He spends most of his time welding/joining windows and doors and putting up signage for shop fronts. He works as a freelancer and usually goes for work to Stung Min Chey market whenever he is called, it takes him around 15-30 minutes by moto depending on the traffic. His wife sells coffee along the streets near the community and also uses a moto gifted by him. Together, they keep their bikes in the warehouse behind their home which other families in the community also use to park their Tuc Tucâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Recently, Churu Vanny has cut down on the number of days he goes to work, with great difficulty he eventually managed to say it was due to a problem he is having with his eyes, although he did go for some treatment at Takow Province, there are still some tests left to do. Churu Vanny came to the Pongro Senchey community in 2012 from Stung Min Chey because he had divorced his wife and had to

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go look for another house to start a new life in. He lived with his first wife and three children in his house which had 2 floors and one room. The house was self-built and was made out of wood, he had bought the land for around 7000-8000 dollars in 1999 due to its relatively low price, he chuckled as he mentioned this. The thing he remembers the most about his first house are his children, this showed what a home really means to him. His current house in the Pongro Senchey community has 2 floors and 1 room. He is still constructing another house next door and plans to upgrade the house he is living in once the construction of his second house is finished. He plans on using both the houses for his new family as it will provide space for his children to play in he says. However, Churu Vanny is also thinking of starting to sell food from home since he cannot go to work regularly and make a regular income especially since savings are getting used extremely fast. He may even level out both the houses and turn it into a big one to accommodate this. He can plan without hesitation since he has already paid the full amount for the land he had bought from his neighbor for constructing his second

house which cost him 2500 dollars in 2015, together with his current house, he has spent just under 3800 dollars for both. Even with the construction process on his mind, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also thinking of connecting his sewage pipe to the drainage as soon as he can. When Churu Vanny first arrived to the Pongro Senchey community there were only 10 houses between the back entrance and the school, and since then the canal is in the same situation as it is today. He has no legal documents for any of his plots but said he had a lot of witnesses from the community that were there with him through the whole process, the only thing he has for each plot is a community book. Churu Vanny plans on living in the Pongro Senchey community long term however he hesitates and says he has no idea about the developments that are taking place right across from him and also does not have any information on the current government policies. However one thing he knows for sure is that he expects to be compensated if they force him to move. He has automatically become a member of the saving group since the previous owner of the land was one and had a savings book.

His favorite part of the house is the mezzanine floor but he plans on removing it once his second house is finished being built so that he can raise it and level it out in order to prevent flooding and also make it into one. Churu Vanny has used under 2000 dollars for his current house and had been saving this for over 3 months. He had bought all his materials from a recycling place, and has used steel for most of the construction of his second house as its easier to build with he claimed. He invites the neighbors he likes to his house for parties and on special occasions. His favorite thing about this community is its upgrading plans. However, he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like the violence that occurs during the weekends when people drink a lot and start fighting as it also causes a lot of noise. In his spare time he goes to the Olympic stadium to eat special Khmer noodles, he also swims here once in 2 weeks and pays around 3000 riels, but now he goes less due to his illness and relies on his wife buying food from the market and cooking special meals on weekends.

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Appendix

Well-off to informal due to a simple string of bad luck Sok Oun Sok Oun sits in front of her house at 3.30pm on a Thursday in Pong Ro Sen Chey. She is surrounded by three tables, from which she sells iced drinks and candy to the passing children returning from school. The tables encroach into the road and garbage fills the gaps. As some people pass, they make negative comments but Sok Oun cares little. The 5,000 Riels daily income from the shop is important as Sok Oun’s husband Vannet is sick and cannot find work, together with her daughter Sok Sophy, Sok Oun must take responsibility for a family life filled with uncertainty. Two years ago things were very different. Living in Por Sat Province, Sok Oun and Vannet had a good life. They had their own car, which they used to sell vegetables and fish, making an income of 30,000 – 40,000 Riels per day, enough to live comfortably in a house they owned made of wood and zinc. A string of bad luck, the car breaking down, Sok Oun’s mother passing away followed by a number of debts not being repaid, meant that

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the couple were no longer able to work. As money dried up, they were forced to sell their house and along with their children and Sok Oun’s brother they moved to the city in search of work. The family settled in the Baej Chan Community, an informal settlement in the Kom Bol area of the city. Here they rented informally from another settler at a cost of $30 per month. For the three years they lived there, Sok Oun made banana chips to sell at market but it was not enough to make ends meet. As evictions took place, the families priority was income and they looked for a new home that would be close to jobs. Sok Sophy found a job in a garment factory in the Senchey District and so, in 2015, the family paid $2,000 for a plot of 2.5m x 3.5m on which stood a single story house made from wood and zinc.

Today the house is home to eight, Sok Oun, Vannet, their two daughters (25 and 10), one son (21), a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and their grandchild, now one and a half Sok Oun thinks little about the future. She isn’t sure on her rights to the land and doesn’t think about it too much. She is aware of Pong Ro Sen Chey’s committee but cares little. For now she is focussed on income, finding ways to pay the 70,000 per/month they must spend on water and electricity as well as for food. Her son and daughter contribute money when they can, from their salaries as a market seller and factory worker but their lives too are filled with uncertainty.

With one son and one daughter now married, Sok Oun used the last of their savings to make the house fit their growing family. They installed a concrete floor, raising the level to alleviate some of the trouble caused by the flood season and building a wooden mezzanine for her sons so sleep on.

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When you’re living with uncertainty, a house is just a house Jek Chhun Compared to its neighbours, Jek Chhun’s house is palatial. The whitewashed concrete rises from the dirt road to form a two-story house made of a light and airy floor-to-ceiling living room, a kitchen and two bedrooms on a mezzanine level. A newer, zinc loft extends forward over the North corner of the house creating a master bedroom for Jek Chhun and her husband Khon (both 54). Inside, the floors are bright white tiles. The cornices are embellished with a traditional Cambodian freeze, designed (like the rest of the house) by Khon. Photographs of family cover the walls and a bureau, set of shelves and desk are home to a cacophony of children’s toys, small ornaments and more photographs. There is bedding piled on top of a well-used leather 3-piece suite, ready to be spread out at night for the two youngest and unmarried children (Veoun, 25 and Pich, 19) to sleep on. The kitchen doubles up as a shop where the family sell basic household items for a profit of around $2.50 per day.

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The house sits at the Southern tip of the street, bookending the community of Po Rong Sen Chey as the land transforms once more into agricultural fields dotted with advertisements for development. ‘COMING SOON! LUXURY APARTMENTS’ and ‘LAND FOR SALE’, read the signs opposite the house. The view is very different from what Jek Chhun first saw when she arrived, with her husband and five children, four years ago. Back then the canal still flowed through Po Rong Sen Chey and the houses that had been built above it looked out on rice paddy fields. The family had been living in the centre of Phnom Penh, spending almost all the money they made selling vegetables at market on the $50 per month rent for a single room. When a friend told them about a site in the Senchey area, close to the garment factories, where the military were selling plots for as little as $20-30, the family packed their bags. Jek Chun knew that this move was to state owned land which bought with it the threat of eviction but the low price and proximity to jobs made it an easy decision. By the time they moved, Jek Chun’s two oldest

children, Khoun (42) and Kea (34) had already married and the three couples grouped their savings to buy three adjacent houses built of wood and zinc. Through working together and combining what little resources they had, the three households were soon able to save enough to purchase the gravel and bricks they needed to start work on a house big enough for all of them.

and although this house is a testament to the families’ hard work, Jek Chhun holds little emotion to it. “If they relocate us we will get a house with water and electricity.” She remarks, “There will be less disruption from flooding. I would not be sad to leave but I would like to be close to the market.”

Jek Chhun finds it impossible to estimate the value of the house as it has been an on-going job for the past four years. The latest addition to the house was when their third child, Van, married last year, the family saved to build an extra bedroom. Last year, when Po Rong Sen Chey was visited by His Excellency, Mr Manchun of the Housing Ministry, the house at the end of the street was singled out for praise. “Look at this house!” Said Mr Manchun, “All people in this community should strive to upgrade to this standard, it is a beautiful house.” Jek Chun is proud of this but she is under no illusion to her situation. When the family arrived they were squatters in a house made of wood and zinc. Now they are squatters in a house made of concrete

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A house built by herself and paid for with a case of beer Chanaa A house built by herself and paid for with a case of beer Ms Chanaa strolls down the single street of Pongro Senchey. Under one arm she carries the log books of the Community Savings Groups and in her other hand she has the family books of two households which she examines as she walks. She is a busy woman. She has a lot on her mind, busy coordinating between a number of NGO’s, academic organisations and government officials as to the future of her community. She understands that she has to speak their language, fitting her problems to their way of thinking, playing the game. Poor and without an education, this sort of streetsmart problem-solving has got Chanaa where she is today. Some residents of Pongro Senchey don’t know what they paid for their houses. Incrementally built, developed over a number of years and with no legal status, the cost and value of the dwellings is hard to define. Not for Chanaa. Her house is worth everything. And it’s cost? A case

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of beer.

and their brother live in Pongro Senchey.

Aged 24, neither Chanaa nor her husband felt safe when they first arrived here in 2002 - to a cluster of 50 houses with no clear boundary. So much so that they left their two daughters with Chanaa’s mother. The case of beer they paid for their single room dwelling made of wood and palm also provided security – the attention of their neighbours to ward of squatters or looters. Even so, Chanaa and her husband would always make sure one of them was home.

The rainy season brings floods to Pongro Senchey and their little house was ill-equipped to deal with them. At the height of the floods, with water reaching up to their shoulders, Chanaa and her husband would place their two small daughters in buckets to float them down the street. In 2015, Chanaa’s house was transformed drastically, from a one room, zinc hut to a five room, three-story concrete house, well ventilated and with private rooms for her and her husband, each of her children, her elderly parents and still leaving a spare room to rent for extra income.

A market was being constructed nearby and Chanaa was employed as a construction worker, one of only a few women on the site. The couple worked hard and were careful to save money where they could. They lived off fish caught in the surrounding paddy fields. With the money they saved they upgraded the house, raising it off the ground to make the rainy season more tolerable, fixing the leaks in the palm. After three years, they bought their two daughters to live with them and the family settled in together. Drawn by the prospect of jobs and the desire to be close together, two of Chanaa’s sisters moved to the community. Today, all Six sisters

The rapid development was triggered by the visit of His Excellency Mr Manchun who visited the site in 2015 to officially open the new drainage system, paid for in part by the community savings network which Chanaa helps to oversee. The visit by the senior official gave Chanaa and the rest of the community a boost of confidence that they may be allowed to stay – for the medium term if not the long term and as such, a scurry of construction has taken place.

Using the construction skills she gained building the market, Chanaa began work to upgrade her house personally. With $5,000 of her own savings she took out a microfinance loan for another $5,000 at an interest rate of 1.3%. Chanaa loves to host and her house is a bustle with people dropping in and out at all times of the day. Her favourite thing about the house is the ground floor and how it opens up to the street – she likes how there is no distinction between in and out and says anyone – good or bad - is welcome here. Chanaa’s husband earns $150 p/month as a goods delivery man which is the bulk of the families income, supplemented by rent from the top right room at around $20 p/month. She pays 60,000 Riels p/month for electricity although this month it has gone up to 90,000 due to the new purchase of a colour TV, a treat for her daughters (14, 13 and 2). If she had a magic wand she would move the house to the centre of the community – where the school is but in this world, her next step is to complete the balconies, building steps and making it safe for the children and create a space for growing plants.

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Settlements Analysis

Meetings with local authorities

03/05/2016 We had two meetings with local authority during the fieldtrip. The first meeting was aiming to know more about the attitude and policy to the community Pongro Senrhey from the local government. On the meeting, the local authority introduced the basic information about the whole neighbourhood and figured out the challenges of development of the site. Community members of Pongro Senchey also shared their thoughts and mentioned their needs of infrastructure and land security. From the meeting, we know that the local authorities wants to help with the community and to make it a better place, but they do not have a well-

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planned process to deal with the situation. The most difficult thing they figured out is to negotiate with different stakeholders and let them cooperate under the same umbrella. So, they really want to hear the voice from the academics and take our suggestions into consideration. 09/05/2016 Based on the former workshops and interviews, in the second meeting, we showed the local authority a presentation about how to help the community with different strategies, including joint responsibility for road and re-blocking. It also can be seen as an attempt to find an appropriate process to let the authority take into consideration. We did not show the strategy of relocation because that option is the one community members dislike. The whole presentation was in Khmer and shows that Phnom Penh is becoming a global city which is putting development pressures on local authorities and making land a scarce recourse. We started form what we found in Pongro Senchey and its neighbourhood and described the current situation -The community is upgrading itself quickly and effectively regardless of a lack of land tenure; The low income community is dependent on its location due to the proximity

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to jobs and business opportunities- It has been shown that the surrounding area is developing very quickly as Phnom Penhâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrial area booms and that the development increases land price and puts pressure on the community. In order to conceive the local authority, we gave two examples in Monorom Community and Bang Bua Canal Community where the local authorities have already implemented the similar ideas successfully. The pros and cons of different strategies were also analysed. The local authority thought the re-blocking may be a better solution among the strategies because it could bring the opportunity to rearrange layout for efficiency of infrastructure and services. But due to the complex situation, the local authority thought both the options is really hard for them to implement and carry out.

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Appendix

In-Field presentation (12/05/2016) How to design city-wide upgrading strategies grounding on our background research and our site experience? After the specific site studies and researches, city-wide upgrading strategies were created in reshuffled groups. Three presentations were given through several dimensions at multiple scales: community mobilisation and level of organisation, legal and institutional framework, housing, land, finance, livelihoods, infrastructural networks, environmental system.

and increasing community representation; Small grants for community-led innovation on flood mitigation and adaptation- presented address challenges of disconnected networks, lack of financial structures, inequality and environmental risk.

Accountable Upgrading Accountable city-wide upgrading requires a combination of government, citizen and third party actors working collectively for equitable solutions to challenges of urban sprawl, development and livelihood. The strategies -Online cross-community noticeboard for knowledge sharing, process clarification and local authority accountability; Establishing direct links between communities, government and the private sector to leverage new financial resources and implementation of existing policies; Social ombudsman for examining policy implementation, encouraging scrutiny

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Unlocking Structural Barriers Focusing on reclaiming the social function of land and housing and healthy environment for healthy people, the presentation figured out three strategies- community empowerment network, environment upgrading, and redistribution of benefits- though the state-led and the people-led viewpoint.

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We Belong Here - Recognising our right to Phnom Penh The urban poor need to be recognised as essential financial and social assets to the city of Phnom Penh. They have the right to feel safe and to a home. The presentation therefore envisioned a just city where the urban poor have access to land, housing, financial resources and a clean environment by three strategies: sharing responsibilities-changing models of negotiation, enhancing peoplecentred development, and reframing issuesmaking a problem an asset.

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